


Katana Comic Online (KCO)

by Risen_Angels



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Action/Adventure, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Sword Art Online (SAO) AU, Violence, i really don't know how to tag this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-13
Updated: 2016-10-09
Packaged: 2018-05-20 02:28:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 45,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5988988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Risen_Angels/pseuds/Risen_Angels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dave's bro, Dirk, had created an awesome MMO with a man name Hal, earning them millions. Dave was one of the beta testers for the game, and when it became popular, he began making friends online (and some enemies). Now his bro and Hal have released helmets which immerse all your senses in the virtual reality, along with an udate for their MMO to allow people to used the helmets while playing the game. Today's the day that that update gets released, and it just so happens to be one of Dave's online friends, which he considers his best bro and who goes by the name Ectobiologist, birthday. And today will be the day that the two meet Virtual face to face if things go to plan. Which they do... sort of.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Welcome to Katana Comic Online!

**Author's Note:**

> Hiiiii everyone!!! Ok, so this is the first chapter of the SAO AU I said I'd do in my first fic, Upon Ruby Wings and Bright Blue Eyes (Which you should totally read if you haven't btw). This Fanfic probably won't be updated as often as URWABBE (man that's a long acronym) but just like my first one I promise it will be update, I just don't know when it will be though. I hope you all enjoy this!!!

Now this, this is the life.

Dave was blasting some sick beats in his ears through his majorly expensive headphones that matched his red hoodie (that he was also wearing) as he sat on his red bean bag chair inside his small bedroom, apple juice bottles and empty chip bags scattered about. He was playing some online fantasy game his bro helped create (him himself being one of the beta testers). What was the name again… oh yeah, Katana Comic online (KCO for short). It was a major hit the second it hit the theoretical shelves (since it was sold online) and it made Dave’s bro and him millionaires, but they still lived in their cheap ass apartment because there was no way in hell they’d pay over 500,000 bucks for some mansion that would get wrecked from their strifing. Through the game Dave had meet a lot of people, some which were now good friends of his, like ectoBiologist, tentacleTherapist and gardenGnostic (yeah, he knows those are some weird user names, but his own is TurntechGodhead so he can’t say much), but even though their his (only) good friends, they don’t know he beta tested this game and that’s how he’s going to keep it. Sure, they may be his friends, but other than them there are people that are just thorns in his side, the assholes keep aiming for him every time they have an encounter. He called these people the “Trolls” because that essentially what they were to him, annoying little shits who get a kick out of annoying the fuck out of him. Though every time they fight, he always wins cause of his sick ass armour thanks to his beta testing. 

The laptop version of the KCO is the only version out at the moment, but Dave’s bro and his partner, Hal Arthur (sometimes bro likes to call him AR to bug him), have been working with neuron technology, creating a helmet that taps into your brain waves and scans your entire body. As it does that it paralyses your arms, legs and back muscles so you stay still while the game registers what your brain wants your body to do, transferring that information into the game, making your character move the way you would (and, if you wanted, to look like you too since it scanned your body shape and facial features). It complete immerses you in a virtual reality, and that’s pretty damn awesome. Dave was also one of the beta tester for that (even though bro was worried shitless about something going wrong and fucking Dave up, but as you can see, it sure as hell didn’t) and once the helmets were approved by all the safety board they were shipped out to all major gaming stores across the world. Today, the thirteenth of April, is the release date of the game update (called the Sburb Update) so that KCO’s networks and game software are compatible with the helmets. At 4:13 the update is going to be released, Dirk, Dave’s bro, already be prepared with countless backup servers. Dave’s Neuro helmet is on his cluttered desk, the helmet decked out in black with red gears covering it. Dave thought today would be a pretty awesome day. He was messaging his Friend EctoBiologist over pester chum, the in game chat client. 

 

\------TurntechGodhead began pestering EctoBiologist at 2:49------

TG: Sup dork  
EB: Hey TG!   
TG: Did you get your lazy ass off your couch and open the present I sent you yet?  
A few months ago Dave found out his good friend Ecto had a birthday coming up, and with the last of the beta trials coming to an end, Dave decided he’d be a good best bro and send EB a present. A really fucking awesome present.  
EB: First off, I’m on my comfortable bed, thank you very much, and two, yes, I got it this morning, but I haven’t opened it yet. I was waiting for you to get online!  
TG: Well I’m on now so open up the present and tell me how much of an awesome best bro I am  
EB: you’re full of yourself, you know that right?  
TG: Thank you, I do my best to impress

 

After that there was a long pause on EB’s end, making Dave think of three possible answers. Ecto was busy opening his present, he already opened his present and died from its sheer awesomeness of it, or a meteorite was colliding with the earth. However his last two theories were disproven rather quickly.

 

EB: Holy shit TG! Is this bunny I’m holding in my hand right now from Con Air???!!  
Of course he would bring up the bunny first,  
TG: Huh, I don’t know ecto, mind telling me what’s on that certificate of authentication that was with the bunny?

 

Ecto’s side went dead again, and Dave was starting to worry the dude had a frickin heart attack. 

 

TG: Yo, EB, you’re not dead are you? Cause that would suck balls  
EB: HOLY CRAP IT IS REAL OMG TG THIS IS THE BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT I’VE EVER GOTTEN OMG.  
EB: aww you do care about me TG

 

Ecto just went from fangirling to a sarcastic shit in 0.02 seconds flat. 

 

TG: Nah, just wanted to make sure I wouldn’t be sued making you die from fangirl over load.  
EG: Asshole  
TG: love you too honeybun, now did you open the bigger box yet?  
EG: No…  
TG: Oh my god you’re literally the slowest person I’ve ever seen when it comes to opening presents  
EG: Hey I can’t type, play the stupid game AND open presents at the same time, geez.   
TG: Dude, your character and mind are in a pub right now, just chilling, so don’t give me that sorry excuse.  
EG: …

 

Dave rolled his eyes, Ecto only using those three dots when he wants to say that he’s ‘speechless’ without out actually typing anything.

 

TG: I’ll just check off the box “make EG speechless on his birthday” on my to-do list   
EG: Dude, you got me one of those neuro helmets?? And not only that, but a custom designed one?!!! Those things cost a fricken fortune! How did you even come up with that kind of money?!  
The helmets weren’t THAT much, they cost about as much as a new computer, about 800 bucks for a custom designed one, like Dave’s and the one he sent Ecto.   
TG: eh, my bro knows a guy who makes them for the creator, gave us a deal on one so I decided to get you one and be an awesome bro.  
TG: Do you like it?  
EG: Oh my gosh of course I like it!!! It’s white with my characters cool blue windy like symbol on it! How could I not like it?  
TG: well seeing as how I impressed you, why don’t you get that bad boy fired up and I’ll meet you in game?  
EG: OH MY GOD THIS IS GOING TO BE SO AWESOME!!

 

For the next hour Dave switched between getting his own helmet set up and walking Ecto through the steps of how to set the helmet up, Dave swearing that Ecto didn’t even read the instruction book with all these simple questions. When Dave asked EB if he even read the manual, EB just said that it wasn’t important and was wondering which wires go where. Dave was a trooper and sat through Ecto’s (easily avoidable) problems with setting up before he was set up himself and checking on EB’s progress.

 

TG: Ok, are the blue lights around the helmet on?  
EG: Uh, yeah! I think it’s ready to go!  
TG: ok sweet, it’ll probably take a few minutes for the helmet to get oriented with your brain waves and shit, so we better get off and get set for the update.   
EG: Ok, I’ll just let my dad know what I’m doing and I guess I’ll see you in game?  
TG: See ya Dork

\------TurntechGodhead ceased pestering EctoBiologist at 4:03------

Dave put his laptop on the ground next to his bed, his now all set up helmet placed at the head of his bed. It was already oriented with his brain waves from the beta testing, so he didn’t need to set it up like EB. Dave lazily stood from his bed, grabbing his shades and settling them firmly on his nose before strolling out of his small room into the narrow hall way, to the kitchen that’s connected with his living room. Dave grabbed an apple juice from the fridge, chugging the delicious fruit juice. Dave had decided long ago that apple juice was the juice of the gods, a lot fucking better than Dirk’s crappy orange pop. Dave then remembered that he should let Dirk know he’s heading into the game so he doesn’t start yelling his ass off telling Dave pizza’s here or whatever the fuck their having for lunch. As Dave entered the living room he walked in on his bro and Jake English, Dirk’s boyfriend, having heated, sloppy make outs on the couch. Fucking fantastic. 

“Yo, if you guys are going to bang at least do it in Dirk’s room so I don’t walk in on you two butt naked AGAIN.” Dave said as he walked to the old, worn green couch, leaning over the back while propping himself up on his elbows “Seriously, that sucked balls, like you two.” Jake immediately sat up, moving off of Dirk to the other end of the couch, covering his totally red face, “Golly, I’m sorry Dave, but that time you were meant to be away at your friends so your brother and I thought….” Dave rolled his eyes as his brother sat up too, glaring at him with his bright orange eyes, his anime shades on the table along with Jake’s glasses. “You two thought it was smart to fuck on the couch with the door unlocked, yeah, got it.” Dave said, Jake’s face turning a deeper hue of red. Man he was embarrassed easily. Dave straightened up and turned around, walking back to his room, “I’m heading in game now, don’t bother waiting for me with supper.” “Ok,” Dirk said as he crawled over to kiss Jake n the cheek, “but I’ll have you know Jake and me are going to bone on the couch whether you like it or not.” Dave shrugged and waved his hands around, “Fine, whatever, just clean the couch when you’re done.”

Dave checked the time, 4:09, still have time to get ready. He laid down on his bed, mocing some of the wires from the helmet so they’re not jabbing into his back, placing said helmet on his head, it fitting quiet comfortably with it’s nice interior padding (though Dave could swear it was the same fabric used in making Dirk’s creepy fucking puppets, but he’s just going to push that thought from his head because nope). The screen in front of his eyes come to life, asking him if he would like to Download the update for KCO (Dave, being a tester, got the update a few days ahead of its release date). Dave looked to the button that said ‘yes’, the helmet picking up that and a small red line began encircling the yes. When the circle was complete a cool, swirling and complex circle appeared on the screen, constantly changing with a trippy background and sick ass music his bro made. When the blue loading bare at the bottom finished loading everything went black, and Dave felt like he was floating in air. Most people would probably be freaking the hell out over this, but after countless times starting up the helmet and testing Dave was use to this feeling. Suddenly the virtual reality menu was before him, the walls in the small room black with multi-coloured pixels floating around, “Welcome to Katana Comic Online” written in Big bold letters above the main menu. It was asking him if he’d like to calibrate the helmet and then create his character since it was altered with the update, or if he would like to jump straight into the game (this option would not be given to people who haven’t played the game with the helmet yet, as calibration was where the helmet got use to your body and your movements). Dave chose to calibrate and create his character. 

He, and everyone else starting the game, was already in a white, blank generic body (either like a girls or boys), so he reached out with his hand to tap first option, causing his vision to blur out as he was transferred to a wide open field, no one else in sight. Suddenly a completely orange version of himself appeared before him, wearing aviators and the clothes Dave was currently wearing. “Sup,” Dave said to his virtual copycat. He’s gotten to know him quiet well, being in game a lot will do that. “Welcome back princess,” Davesprite said (then name Davesprite was chosen by himself, apparently wanting to distinguish himself from the ‘real Dave’), “You know the drill, I don’t think I have to explain it to you.” Dave nodded, lifting his blank body’s arms, rotating them around, opening and closing his hands before bending over and touching his toes. He continued to move certain parts of his body until a bar above his head was filled, saying that calibration was complete. Davesprite smirked, waving his hand, the whole field around Dave changing, being closed in by four red walls, a fancy bed at the side of the room with the walls adorned with trophies and in game achievements, a mirror seated right in front of Dave. A tutorial on how to create a character tried to pop up, but Davesprite, knowing Dave as well as he knew himself, closed it immediately, knowing it would just be a waste of time. 

When Dave looked in the mirror he saw his character from the game, the only difference being the facial features looked more like his own. His character had white hair with red tips styled to spike to the side, unlike his normal hair which, for the most part, stays flat against his head and is a light blonde colour. His character’s eyes were also red, Dave finding some comfort in know that in this reality it was really the only place his weirdly coloured eyes were not questioned or deemed “Demonic”. His character’s body also changed too, becoming more detailed and muscular like Dave’s down body, though his six pack was covered by a detailed black armour plate, a silky red shirt that goes to his elbows underneath said armour plate. Dave also was wearing black, dragon leather gauntlets that stop just below his elbow, the gauntlets were open fingered too, making him look pretty bad ass. Dave also had on black, knee high dragon leather boots with black steel fittings and he had black steel shoulder and thigh pads, and shin guards. He also was wearing a long, deep crimson cape with intricate designs around the edge in black. It draped over his shoulders underneath his shoulder pads and flowed seamlessly behind him wherever he walked. The crimson cape had a hood attached to it so that it can change to a cloak in a matter of seconds. He also had lighter red, silk belt tied around his waist along with 2 medium satchels on either side for his inventory. His pants were a dark burgundy and on his chest stood his characters symbol, a bright red gear like the ones which adorned his helmet and hoodie. Dave smirked at himself and touched his spiky, anime like hair. The graphics were so damn good in this game, everything looked so real, and since you could touch and feel things too, it was damn scary at points. Thankfully though after your HP drops below a certain point your pain receptors are blocked so if you die it won’t hurt badly and you will just respawn. 

After Dave readjusted some of his armour pieces to fit better he turned to Davesprite, who was in his own armour and no longer completely orange. His armour was just like Dave’s, only where it was black it was a light grey and where it was red it was orange, and, unlike Dave, Davesprite had light orange wings instead of a cape. “How do I look?” Dave asked, posing like an overdramatic supermodel. Davesprite rolled his eyes, opening up Dave’s personal menu and pointing to the message icon, which said he had a new message from Ecto, “As much as I would love giving you advice about how not to look like a total dumbass, your ‘best bro’ has just entered the game and is trying to get in contact with you.” Dave nodded to Davesprite before opening up his chat with EB.

\------EctoBiologist began pestering TurntechGodhead at 4:16------

EG: Holy shit holy shit this is so cool oh my god  
EG: TG I’m inside my characters- wait MY house and I look so damn cool and I have a blue version of myself with bunny ears OMG this is amazing  
EG: wait is this thing on?  
EG: Shit it is  
EG: Hey bunny me is this thing saying everything I say?  
EG: oh it is? Oops sorry TG!  
EG: Anyways, uh, I was wondering if you were already in the game yet! You probably are since you seem to be such an expert at setting up the system and stuff  
EB: but then again you probably just read the manual.  
Dave shook his head, he knew that dork didn’t read the instructions.  
EG: oh wait I’m getting off track here shit  
EG: I was wondering if you want to meet at the Tavern we usually meet at when we’re playing on the laptops.  
EG: Man what’s taking you so long? Wait, are you one of those people that spends an hour creating your character? Huh, never pegged you for that type of person  
TG: Well of course EG, I need doll myself up before I meet you face to face don’t I?  
EG: THERE YOU ARE! Were you seriously taking that long just to make your character?  
TG: Nah, was just ignoring you to see how much bullshit you would say before I began talking  
EG: Asshole!   
TG: hahaha  
EG: I’m starting to have second thought about meeting you, Mr. TG

 

Dave waved at Davesprite to dismiss him as he left his bedroom, Davesprite going off to do his own thing while Dave exited his house to begin walking down the stone street, glancing at all of the people running out of their houses excitedly and greeting their friends with huge hugs. Dave smirked, Chat still open.

 

TG: I’m about 2 minutes from Sunshine Tavern  
EG: I’ll be there in 5!

\------Ectobiologist ceased pestering TruntechGodhead at 4:25------

 

Dave rolled his eyes, a grin covering his face as the Tavern came into view. 

He was going to meet his best bro, one of his only friends ever, for the first time.


	2. Virtual Reality Gone Wrong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dave and John hang out for a bit and test their abilities in their new, first person perspective, but just as their having fun, their world come crashing down around them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiiiiiii I did say in one of the comments I would be updating this ff or my other one, but as you can see, I updated both in one day!!! Hurray!!! Now, unlike URWABBE, this Fanfic will be mostly through Dave's perspective and sometimes through his bro's (so we can also see the turmoil going on in the real world). I hope you all enjoy this chapter!!!!

Dave sat down at the bar, ordering some delicious apple juice from the female AI bartender. As the AI “prepared” his drink, Dave looked around the tavern, taking in the sight. On the laptop he couldn’t take in the immense texture design and detail in the place, or just how realistic it actually looked (though that could be from the update and the helmet, but whatever). The wall around him were a light orange colour that looked worn from decades of use, the tables made of deep brown wood with a nice finish to them, the chairs being made of the same wood with orange and gold swirling padding. The curtains were a deep jade green, as was the table clothes which were set out on the tables. The bar top was made of nice, chocolate brown wood with a lighter bar wall that had swirled engraved into the wood which were filled with gold. There were a few other people around, though, like him and EG, many people had their own meeting places and were probably meeting up at them. This was their favourite spot to go to after a major fight to replenish their HP, letting them save their healing potions for when they really needed it. 

The bartender placed Dave’s drink down on the bar top, holding out her hand, saying her usual phrase, “That’ll be twenty gold sugar!” Dave reached into the left satchel around his waist, pulling out the digital gold coins. When he dropped them in her hand they immediately disappeared into small pixels. The bartender smiled, saying her usual ending phrase, “Thanks darling! Don’t forget to come back to the sunshine Tavern!” Dave took the apple juice, sipping it as he turned around in his chair, looking for Ecto. Just as Dave was about to open pesterchum the bell signalling a new customer rang out through the place, Dave’s eye’s snapping to the side to see a big, goofy grin plastered over his friends face. 

Ecto’s character looked the same as always. Unlike Dave, whose character specialized in melee attacks with a long sword and time magic (slowing it down and speeding it up), EG’s specialized in melee attacks with a war hammer and ‘breath’ magic (windy shit). Due to John using his magic powers more often than his melee weapon the game had transformed his characters outfit to fit his specializations and preferences, just like Dave. Since Dave used his melee attacks more often than his time abilities, the game gave him harder, better armour and swords whenever he would loot a chest or fallen creature. Ecto, on the other hand, gets better robes and staffs rather than armour or war hammers since he doesn’t use them as much. 

Ecto’s character had tanned skin (unlike Dave’s who had a much lighter skin colour) and hair which was very curly and looked wind swept. His hair was pitch black and had bright blue streaks through it, his eyes were a deep blue to match. He was wearing a sleeveless robe which left his chest open, his chest bare other than a few necklaces hanging down over it and some dark blue string lacing it together at the stomach. His character’s windy symbol was tattooed in blue into his characters chest near the shoulder, just barely visible since it was covered by his top. The top of his robe was white with blue lines decorating it. His arms were bare other than the white and blue gloves that reach his elbow while fanning out like a cone. Around EB’s waist was a silk cloth tied to keep his robe from flying up when he used his windy powers, several small bags and beaded stings hanging down from underneath said cloth. EB’s white robe encircled his legs like a trench coat, only leaving the front open so he could move around quickly. His full robe had swirls of very light (nearly white) blue across it, fading and mixing in with the bright white. His pants were loss fitting and a dark blue, puffing out at the knee where his big white boots started. As EG walked over to Dave he noticed that his character was lean and made for speed, sort of like Dave’s, only difference being that his arm muscles were built up more than Ecto.

Dave smirked as EG sat down beside him, the grin never leaving his face. “Sup?” Dave said as he finished the last of his apple juice. Ecto was not impressed. “Sup? Seriously? Of all the things you could say you say ‘Sup?’” EB said after he ordered his own drink. Dave shrugged, his smirk growing. “Well what did you expect me to say? Oh my dearest bro, our bromance is now complete after we’ve met virtually face to face like if we used a skype call.” Dave said the last part while bringing his hand up dramatically to his forehead, leaning against Ecto and nearly causing both of them to fall off their stools. EG was giggling, GIGGLING, at Dave’s overdramatic actions, swatting and pushing him away so they wouldn’t fall off the stools. “Hehehe, Oh my god alright, alright, sups better than that!” EG said when Dave went back to sitting normally on his stool. EG sighed contently, “But seriously, this is fricken awesome Turntech! I never thought that a game like this could even exist! I get to meet you, and TT and GG! This is the best birthday ever!!!” Dave slammed his drink down on the table while rising from his seat, drawing the attention of several people around the tavern. Ecto was a bit shocked from the sudden noise, and looked worriedly at Dave. “TG-,” Before EG could continue Dave held his hand up to his mouth, effectively cutting off what Ecto was about to say. “This is NOT the best birthday ever, yet. Come on, like hell we’re gonna spend your birthday in this pub. Time to check the world out.” When Dave removed his hand from EG’s mouth he was practically beaming, and before Dave could do anything else, EG grabbed his hand and yanked Dave out of the Tavern and down the cobble walk way.

The MMO had many different levels, the highest being level 100, with a different floor with different challenges in each. There were towns, cities, and dungeons to accompany each different level. During beta testing Dave was able to reach 99, however he couldn’t access level 100, and when he question Hal about it after he logged out, Hal just said it was supposed to be a secret. It would have been cool to see the top floor, but right now Dave didn’t mind as he and EG were running through the long, lush, green grass in the giant valley on the first level just outside the main town of Prospit. Dave and EG were having a great time just goofing around, but Dave decided to try something. “Hey Ecto!” Dave called over to EG who was trying to catch some small virtual bunny, “Get your ass over here, I want to try something!” Ecto quickly abandoned his pursuit of the small bunny and ran over to Dave, “Yeah Turntech?” Dave smirked, drawing his black steel sword from its black and red sheath, pointing the tip towards a few giant boars, “Let’s try out our new bodies, and see if the calibrations are working properly. Those guys aren’t necessarily easy, but they sure as hell aren’t hard.” Ecto looked towards the boars, grabbing his grey staff which had a swirly grip and blue crystal as its energy source, his HP and Mana bar popping up above his head to indicate he’s getting ready to fight. Dave smirked, his own HP and Mana bars popping up as he took a fighting stance. EG rushed towards the boars and…

He tripped… over his own feet…

Dave doubled over laughing when EG did a face plant into the soft grass. Ecto propped himself up on his elbows, cursing under his breath, most directed towards Dave. “Uh, TG….” EG said worriedly, drawing Dave’s attention towards EG, who was face to face with a pissed off looking alpha boar. Well shit. 

Just as the boar stood up on its hind legs, about to bring it’s jagged hooves down on the terrified looking EG, in one swift series of movements, Dave spun his sword around quickly, causing a red gear to appear in front of him with a slit in the center. Dave shoved his sword through the slit, turning his sword counter-clockwise and when the gear turned with the sword, time around Dave slowed down to a point where everything was in slow motion, including the boar and EG. Since he slowed time down so much his Mana bar was depleting quickly, and due to the fact that he doesn’t use it often, he didn’t have much of a mana pool to begin with, meaning he had to act fast or EG’s screwed. Dave rushed towards the two, drawing his sword above his head as he reached EG, hooves meeting black steel as Dave’s mana pool disappeared, the spell disappearing with it. To EG Dave would have looked like a total blur, so the surprised look EG was giving him was what Dave expected. “GO!” Dave yelled as he pushed the boar forward off of his sword, swinging at it so it backs away to give Ecto some room to move. Ecto quickly scurried off the ground, backing away from Dave and the boar with his staff ready. The boar back up from Dave, letting out a war cry, drawing the attention of the other boars nearby. Shit. 

The alpha boar began to charge at Dave at the same time as an omega, and just as Dave thought he was fucked, Ecto stepped up, bless his virtual soul, and sent the omega flying into a small boulder, letting Dave block the Alpha without having to worry about being attacked by another one. The alpha boar kept charging at Dave in a pattern, one which Dave was easily able to decipher and counter by moving to the side and slashing along the side of the boar. While Dave dealt with the biggest of the boars EG attacked to other’s using his magic, spinning, twirling and swiping his staff side to side, blowing the boars away into nearby objects (mostly small boulders which scattered the field) with his blue windy magic. The smaller boars were quickly defeated with EG’s powerful (but clumsy) magic skills (with EG nearly blowing them into Dave as he dodged the bigger boars attacks). The last boar, the alpha boar, was bloody with gashes up its side, it’s HP close to 0, yet it was preparing itself to charge at Dave once again in the same pattern. Dave held up his sword, prepared to charge at the boar instead of dodging and countering its attacks, prepared to spear it down to center, killing it in style. Dave charge as soon as the boar let out a shrill cry when its hooves slammed into the ground as it began charging. However just as Dave reached the boar, EG was flying over Dave’s head, holding out his staff, and with a single touch of his staff to the boards head and a simple “boop” from the staff wielding asshole the boar disintegrated into pixels, leaving behind a menu of loot and XP for EG. Dave slowly stopped running, looked at said menu in confusion because did that seriously just happen? Did he really get out smarted by a guy in puffy pants? Ecto, however, thought it was funny as hell, doubling over laughing at Dave’s expression. “Oh… my god… hahahahaha… you… you should see… your face!! hahahaha!!!” Ecto said through his fits of laughter. Dave turned around, glaring at the laughing asshole. “Oh yeah, ha ha ha, all shits and giggles and all that jazz. Totally hilarious, good one EG.” Dave scowled as he sheathed his sword, grumbling as he walked over to EG, punching him in the arm before walking back towards Prospit. Ecto was still laughing as he gathered his loot and XP, running to catch up to the grumpy Dave. 

“John.” Ecto said as he calmed down, walking contently beside Dave. “Huh?” Dave said, turning to Ecto with raised eyebrows. “John,” he repeated, looking at Dave with a blinding smile, “That’s my name! I thought since we’ll be seeing each other a lot through the game we might as well call each other by our actual names! If, you know, it’s ok with you.” Dave smiled, turning back to look out at Prospit, the town made of gold and white, the amber sky behind it complementing it nicely. “Dave.” Now it was John’s turn to look at Dave confusedly. “Dave, that my name.” Dave said as he glanced over at John from the corner of his eye. Dave’s smile grew when he saw a big grin spread across John’s face. “Well Dave, I think this is the start of a great adventure!”  
Before Dave could say just how cheesy that line was both of their personal character menus popped up, an important message underneath the newsfeed. Both John and Dave stopped in their tracks, obviously confused (Dave more so than John since he usually would receive messages like this before anyone else). The message read:

 

Dear Players of Katana Comic Online!

At 5:30 everyone will be transported to the giant arena on level two where some important information will be sent out about the update! Please start making your way to the arena as soon as possible! 

From Hal Arthur, AR

 

John closed his message board, turning to Dave. “Huh, must be something really important if they’re sending that out to everyone!” John check his watch his eye’s going wide as he looked back up at Dave, “Oh shit its 5:15!” Before Dave could answer John took off, jogging up the path, yelling back, “Come on Dave!” However Dave was frozen in place, something feeling really wrong about the whole situation. His bro would have messaged him to tell him if something was up with the update, but he had no messages from his bro relating to the update. When he was about to close his menu he go another clue that some shit wasn’t right… the log out button was missing. Dave’s eyebrow knitted together with the thought that something went wrong with the update. Dave closed the menu, sprinting to catch up to John, continuously thinking about the missing log out button and the weird letter, though Dave tried to calm himself by thinking that this was probably what the whole thing was about, addressing the problem with the log out button. Yeah, that makes sense, let’s go with that. When he caught up to John at portal that lead to the second floor John looked worriedly at Dave. “Hey,” John asked, looking Dave in the eyes, “is everything ok? You look pretty freaked out.” Dave shrugged, “Eh, it’s not nothing you need to worry about bro, let’s go through the portal now or we’re gonna be late.” 

John dropped the subject, stepping through the portal followed by Dave. The two had quickly made their way down the crowded streets to the arena, grabbing a spot on the main floor. When the clock stuck 5:30 everything went to hell. Everyone who was not previously on the second floor was teleported there like the letter said, however as soon as everyone was within city limits the whole city was covered with a red dome, all of their personal menus disabled. This CAN’T be good. 

Suddenly everyone’s characters started to pixelate and change. Dave watched as John’s character became shorter, his hair losing its blue streaks but still black as night, his eye’s turning a slightly lighter shade of blue. He also gain an over bite and black glasses soon materialized on his face. His skin became slightly lighter as well. Dave turned around quickly, watching as everyone else’s characters changed, presumably into how they actually looked in real life. Loud shouts of confusion and anger echoing throughout the stadium. Dave touched his hair, and when he felt it flat against his head and no longer spiked to the side he knew he looked like he normally does, side swept hair and all. Dave’s spun around, locking eye’s with John who looked just as confused at Dave was. Suddenly a holographic figure appeared above the stadium, large enough for people at the edges of the city to see. John’s and Dave’s head’s snapped to the side, peering up at said figure. Dave recognized that smug smile anywhere. Hal Arthur.

He looked a lot like Dirk, only differences being that he wore glasses (like the one John was now wearing) and his hair was black with a red streak running through it. He was wearing a black armour set that looked a lot like Dave’s, only it was bulkier and had red cyber lines running through it. Hal’s smirk grew as the crowd called out angrily, asking for answers. “Now, now, is that anyway to treat your new god?” Hal said, his voice reaching everyone across town. Everyone went silent, Hal’s smile growing by the second, “Ah good, now let me explain myself.” He cleared his throat, standing proudly before everyone. “If you’re not already aware, all of the log out buttons are none-existent, meaning you’re all trapped in game.” Some people began screaming and shouting at hal, while others at the top of the stadium looked like they were getting ready to jump. Hal apparently thought ahead. “Now before you all go off and kill yourselves so the restart menu will pop up and ask if you would like to exit the and shit like that, I’ll let you all in on a little secret…,” That caused anyone about to jump to reconsider, everyone staying silent as Hal whispered, “that’s gone too!” He let out a cackling laugh like a mad man as everyone began yelling and shouting, pissed the hell off at him. He looked down at everyone with a scowl, “Oh please, I haven’t even gotten to the best part! Not only are you trapped in this virtual world where I am the god, but just like in real life, if your HP drops below zero, you’re done, toasted, fried, dead! However you want to say it!” That sentence made an eerie silence fall over the crowd, Dave’s heart dropping into his gut as Hal let out a laugh. “Oh boy, this is priceless. Let me explain, shall I?” A giant screen appeared next to Hal showing a diagram of a person with a neuro helmet on. “You see, the helmets you’re all are currently wearing tap directly into your brain waves, I should know, I help invent them, and it can be a two way signal. How this is going to work is when your HP drops below 0, you have exactly 12. 03 seconds for someone to heal you before…” Hal trailed off, pointing back to the screen where the diagram showed the helmet sending in huge bursts of electricity into the person’s neuro pathways, their brain turning into mush, “… Your mind turns to soup!” Dave felt his knees nearly give out under him. “However I’m not a total monster…” Hal said before anyone could actually register the dire situation at hand, “… There’s a catch to this MMO, a way you all can escape!” Everyone began calling out, asking what was the catch. “The catch…” Hal began, “Is that you need to reach level 100 and kill the final boss… me. Of course, since my characters death entails the end of the game, I will not truly die upon my character’s death, I will just simply wake up! Not a bad plan huh? I get to rule over millions of people in a world I created, no fear of true death holding me back!”

Dave clench his fists, his shock and fear changing to anger as he shouted over the silent crowd, “BUT WHAT ABOUT THE BETA TESTERS?! THEY ALL REACHED LEVEL 99 AND THEY CAN DO IT AGAIN!” Hal stopped smiling momentarily, glancing down at Dave, making direct eye contact before his sinister grin was back. “Oh, I know, why do you think I summoned everyone here and separated the city from the rest of the game with this dome? The reason, if you haven’t already figured it out, is…” Hal paused, and with a snap of his fingers Dave and everyone else could see the world outside the red, transparent dome shift and change, blurring in and out of focus until it looks slightly different than the world before, “… total reset. All new bosses, all new dungeons, all new everything! Not a single map the same as on old one and no more free passes through the new levels!! Sure, after someone beats the boss on a level you can move freely between your current level and the next, however, at the moment, you have exactly 99 bosses to defeat before you get to me. Better let you hop to it!” Suddenly buildings and the ground inside the dome disappeared, everyone falling into darkness. Suddenly Dave found himself dazed and in the middle of Prospits town square along with everyone else, John right by his side, pale and eye’s blown wide in fear. Just as Dave thought Hal was done a giant screen appeared over the fountain at the town’s center, 3,998,564 appearing on the scale. Hal’s voice boomed out, “This is the scale that tells how many people are still alive! Each time a number goes down, someone dies! Good luck and try not to die… literally!” After a few moments of silence someone screamed. This set off a chorus of screams and shouts of anger, frustration and worry. Dave looked around as the people rushed past him, all running to… to where? They were stuck in the fucking game and running sure as hell would do shit all! As Dave looked around he saw some several pairs of people at the top of Prospits bell tower, holding hands and looking down at the ground. When they jumped Dave looked away, back to the scale, and when he heard a faint scream and the scale reduce by several numbers, he knew what happened. Dave looked over at John, who was still staring blankly into space, tears starting to stream down his blank face. Guilt surged through Dave as he realized John wouldn’t be here if Dave hadn’t gotten him that stupid fucking helmet!

Dave’s personal menu popped up, apparently working now, with a new message in his in box from bro. He opened it with a heavy heart.

 

\------TimaeusTestified began pestering TurntechGodhead at 5: 57------

TT: Uh, sup Dave  
TT: I don’t know how to really tell you this, but you probably already know by now  
TT: we got a problem, and its name begins with ‘Hal’ and ends with ‘is a fucking crazed sociopath’


	3. This was Never Suppose to Happen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We get a back story on Dirk and how he came to meet Jake, Jane and Roxy. Then the whole world finds out about Hal and KCO, and they try to see if they can help their family in the game while trying not to harm them!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!! I would like to Thank everyone who has read Upon Ruby Wings and Bright Blue eyes and Katana Comic Online and who left a comment or Kudos! I really appreciate the support ^u^ I hope you all enjoy this Chapter!!!

============about 2 hours earlier ============

 

Dirk watched as Dave walked back to his room to get set up to play KCO, a smile on his face when he turned back to the bashful Jake. “Want to continue where we left off babe?” Dirk said as he leaned in and began to kiss Jake, who eagerly returned the kiss. Sadly Dirk’s plan to have sloppy make-outs with his boyfriend on their worn out couch were destroyed when his phone let out a very loud (and annoying) hip hop ringtone, letting him know that it was from KCO central command’s programmer, who is also one of top programmers (and hackers) in her field. Dirk did his best to reach over to the coffee table where his phone was ringing while still holding the kiss with Jake. Eventually though (after he knocked his phone onto the floor on the opposite side of the coffee table) Dirk had to break the kiss and get up from his comfortable spot on the couch. When he got his phone he answered it quickly because oh my fuck it was the most annoying ring tone ever (though that’s probably why she choose it, so Dirk would answer her as fast as possible, unless, you know, he’s having sloppy make outs with his boyfriend). Dirk sighed into the phone, “Yes Roxy?”

Roxy was one of Dirk’s closest friends for a long time, and he even dated her for a while when they were in their late teens before he found out he preferred the man meat. Roxy was a bit disappointed at first, but eventually she was chill, and since then they both are like a brother and sister to one another, looking out for each other and helping each other out. When Dirk was about 10 he and Dave had been kicked out of their parents’ house as they ‘suddenly’ realized they didn’t want to have kids, and with Dave being a baby and Dirk being a hormonal teenager, he didn’t know where else to turn to other than Roxy and her mother. Mrs. Lalonde was totally fine with letting Dirk stay over, and was glad to have another kid around for Roxy and another baby around for her new baby sister Rose. After Dirk was old enough to get a Job, however, he and Dave moved out, not wanting to leach off of Mrs. Lalonde anymore. Dave was still pretty young, only a few years old, so neither him nor Roxy’s little sister remember each other. It was hard trying to take care of a kid and work, and when Dirk had to go to college and leave Dave home alone for long periods of time, well, that was even harder. Thankfully though Roxy was going to the same college, making it a whole lot easier for Dirk. Roxy was actually the one who introduced Jake to Dirk in their last year of college (all of them only taking two year courses), so technically without Roxy Dirk wouldn’t have found his love of his life, Jake English.

Dirk and his friend AR, who’s real name’s Hal (Dirk use to call AR in high school and college, and the name eventually stuck) began designing their MMO a few years after college, Dirk the one who was able to convince Hal to quit his day Job as a computer call assistant (which actually wasn’t too hard) to work on the MMO full time. However Hal was having trouble encoding the game at a rate fast enough to make it to their deadline, and if they couldn’t reach it then their game would have had lost all its sponsors, sending it into the gutter since Dirk and Hal were poor as fuck after spending all their money on gamming software and design shit. About 4 months before their deadline Dirk had called Roxy after he had had one too many beers, telling her how much shit him and Hal were in and how if the game didn’t work out then not only would he owe Hal a lot of money for screwing him over and quitting his job that actually PAID money, but also how Dave and him would probably be beggars out on the street. Roxy, bless her soul, drove up from her home in California to Texas the following day, busting in the hungover Dirk’s door (who couldn’t remember shit all of the night before). For the next few days she had helped Hal program the game, and after she went back to California, to her little sister and mother, she and Hal had continued to stay in touch as she helped him program the game. They ended up meeting the deadline with a month to spare. 

After the game took off and Dirk and Hal realized they needed more full time people to help run the thing the first person they looked to was Roxy, who gladly agreed (apparently Roxy had been programming other’s computers to get by, so this wasn’t a major change for her, which was pretty sweet). Jake, who was still just a friend at the time, also had some skills that helped Hal and Dirk out. Jake helped Dirk with the concept art on the weapons and creatures, saying that they were a lot like the creatures on his island that he, his sister, grandmother and grandfather moved from (which caused Dirk to think Jake was full of bullshit until last year when they visited his old island, which Dirk promptly named Hell Murder Island). Jane, one of Dirk’s other close friends that he would trust with his life, came into the picture later on when she and Jake began dating when they were all 24. Around this time Dirk had also developed feelings for Jake, but he ignored his jealousy (yes, the amazing, calm and collected, Dirk motherfucking Strider, was jealous) after he saw how nice Jane was, quickly adding her to his close knit friend group. He and Hal had hired her as a customer support since she can go from her cherry, nice self to dead serious and professional to (if there’s a complete asshole on the line) passive aggressive queen, Jane being able to help the asshole’s while giving then a piece of her mind. They had ever only gotten one complaint about Jane’s behaviour, everyone else getting the hint that, if you were nice and patient and not a total dick, she would help you to her fullest extent. It was only after her and Jake broke up did Dirk get enough courage (or more like Roxy constantly nagging him about his feelings) did Dirk confess how he felt for Jake. That was about 3 year ago, and Jake and Dirk had been together ever since (and although Jane was a bit sad about their hook up she eventually got over her feelings for Jake as her and Roxy teased the boys if either of them ever had a visible hickey from the night before). 

Even though their company had grown to have over 500 employees making sure that everything was running smoothly, Dirk and Hal kept Jake, Jane and Roxy at the top of the chain, Jane overseeing all call support and feedback, Roxy and Hal being the heads of the programing department, Jake helping run the design of weapons and creatures in the concept design department while Dirk worked on all of the puzzles and AI’s character design. Dirk knew that there were two possible reasons Roxy would be calling right now, the first being that her cat did something adorably stupid, or there was a problem with the neuro helmets. He hoped it was the first one. 

“Dirky baby, we got a serious problem with the game.” And his hopes were crushed. 

Dirk sat down on the couch next to Jake as he responded, “Lay it down for me Ro-Lo.” Roxy sounded nervous as she spoke, “Well, ya see Dirky, I was just playing KCO on my laptop, not wanting to set up that redonkulious helmet, and I had just installed that update Hal made for the game, but then some weird shit happened! It kicked my character out of the game, saying that the servers couldn’t accept the request!” Dirk hummed as he relaxed, leaning into the couch, “I’m not seeing anything odd about it Ro-Lo, it may have just been a glitch with the update. Have you tried talking to Hal about it?” Roxy sighed into the phone, “That’s the thing! I’ve tried everything to reach that idiot but nothin’s working. I’ve tried his email, home phone, all of his cell phone numbers, Facebook, snapchat, messenger, text, EVERYTHING!!! Only to be ignored.” Dirk raised an eyebrow at that since Hal was usually the person to return calls or any form of communication right away. “Huh… that is pretty fucking weird…” Dirk said, glancing over at Jake to let him know something was up. However before Jake could ask Dirk what was wrong Roxy screamed over the phone, “OH MY GOD, OH MY FUCKING GOD, DIRK TURN ON THE T.V RIGHT NOW, HOLY SHIT!!” Roxy sounded so scared and distraught Dirk didn’t even pause, leaning forward quickly and pressing the power button on his flat screen’s remote. Dirk’s heart sank when he saw that black spiked hair and red eye’s on the T.V.

The broadcast had already started, Jake and Dirk staring wide eyed at Hal, who was dressed in a formal suit and sitting on a black leather chair, the background void of any markings. Hal was mid-sentence when they turned on the T.V. “-et, this is a recorded message, and therefore, by the time this airs, I will be long out of any of the laws, or anyone’s, reach. Hell, I don’t even have to do this, but I am to make sure you all don’t fuck up my plan.” Dirk held the phone in his hand, his knuckled turning white as he said, “Roxy is that….” Roxy hummed, “Yeah… and that’s not all, check the guide! He has it all wired!” Dirk pressed the button to bring the T.V guide up on the screen, where all of the channels had “KCO important message” playing. What the fuck is Hal doing? Dirk thought as he exited the guide when he heard Hal clear his throat. Hal had a wide grin on his face as he spoke. “As many of you know I am the co-founder and creator of the MMO, Katana Comic online, and I am also one of the ones who had created those awesome neuro helmets. But that’s not entirely what I’m here to talk to you all about. I’m here to tell you about my amazing plan which,” Hal paused, grinning wickedly into the camera, “is unfortunate for you, fortunate for me.” Dirk glance over at Jake, who looked deathly pale. “You see, while most game designers and scientists though the neuro helmet would help them make money or help the sick and blah, blah, blah, I, on the other hand, found a way to create my own world that I can rule as a god!” Dirk gaped at the T.V., countless thoughts running through his head before he settled on one: Hal is a fucking psychopath. “And, if you dumbasses haven’t already put two and two together, by the time this message had aired, I would have already taken full control on the MMO I helped create, Katana Comic Online, removing all of the logout buttons from the game so that the players are now the citizens of my domain.” The second thought Dirk had at that point was GET DAVE OUT OF THAT HELMET! Dirk stood up quickly, the phone still in his hand as he jumped over the couch he felt a hand grasp his wrist, pulling him back. Dirk turned around angrily, not knowing why Jake had grabbed his wrist until he looked back to the screen, a sinister gleam in Hal’s eyes. 

“Oh oh oh! I wouldn’t even DARE think about unplugging your son, daughters, cousins or whoever the fuck may be plugged into the helmet, as I haven’t even told you the morbid part yet!” Dirk’s heart felt like it had just gone free falling with a parachute as he walked back over to Jake and sat down next to him, holding the phone back up to his ear to hear Roxy mumbling “oh my god” over and over. “See, I have a catch with my new world. If the players can beat me at the 100th floor (so THAT’s why he didn’t let Dirk design the last boss! Fuck!) then they all are free to go and will automatically be logged out and released. HOWEVER it would OBVIOUSLY be too easy for them to beat the levels if they kept respawning like mad, and it wouldn’t be very life like now would it?” Hal paused, pulling up a diagram of the neuro helmet on a person, “So, to make it more lifelike and harder to beat me, when the player dies in-game, then the helmet sends an electrical burst into their neurons exactly 12.03 seconds after their characters death, turning their brain to mush! And that very same process will happen if you try to manually remove the helmets.” Dirk heard Roxy drop the phone on the other end of the line, a loud thumping of her running up the stairs mixed with Roxy screaming hysterically “ROSEY!! OH MY GOD ROSEY!! OH GOD ROSE!!” Hal smirked, “I also have over 3 million people logged into the servers at this point, and I suspect it won’t be long before people are calling the hospitals for life supports, ‘cause your damn well going to need them.” Dirk threw the phone, cursing loudly, knowing that he will also get in a whole lot of shit for being associated with him and that fucking game! Hal sighed as he stood from his chair on screen walking towards the camera, “I will also like to state, for the record, all of this is my doing. I know, I know, you’re all probably thinking I had help from my co-founder, Dirk Strider or whoever the fuck you can think up, but I will let you know that I don’t want to share my power that I will soon possess, and therefore, it would be utterly fucking stupid of me to have a partner who I’d have to share it with. Plus I’m not THAT heartless to lay blame on Dirk or the others, they were good friends of mine, and I do feel sort of crappy for doing this to them, but hey, can’t say I’m too bummed about it considering I get my own new world.” Hal reached forward, towards the camera, a grin on his face, saying, “Cya suckers. God of KCO signing out yo.”

The screen went blank, and with it the world went hysteric. 

It was now Dirk’s turn to grab Jake’s wrist as he tried making a dash for the door, completely pale and eye’s blown wide in fear. Jake tried pulling away from Dirk’s grip, “Oh bloody fuck, Dirk let go of me! Jade she… she went into the game and I- I can’t just leave her by herself! Oh my god what if she…” Jade was Jake’s younger sister, and considering his own lil bro was trapped in the game too he knew just what Jake was going through. “Jake, running back and hovering over her all day won’t solve anything!” Dirk said once Jake finally stopped pulling away, looking defeated, “Call your grandparents up and tell them to bring Jade along with her helmet and system to the nearest hospital to get her hooked up to an IV. Dave can stay here since we have our own medical supplies (between Dirk and Dave’s strifes and never being too prepared, Dirk had bought a whole medical room worth of machines and supplies which were stored in the apartment next to theirs) and maybe we can do something about it!” Dirk let go of Jake, walking towards Dave’s room while yelling back, “After you’re done calling your grandparents call Jane to make sure she didn’t slip on one of those fucking things and then Roxy! Tell both of them to answer my skype call in 10!” Dirk didn’t stick around to see if Jake had ran out or stayed as he was too busy opening the door to his lil bro’s room to find him soundly hooked up to the helmet, laptop on the floor and Dave in his favourite hoodie. Dirk didn’t stop the mass amounts of tears that streamed down his cheeks as he picked his bro up carefully along with all the wires and the Laptop, making his way out of the room, into the living room where he grabbed the extra keys before he headed out into the apartment complex’s hallway. As he walked the short distance from the side by side apartments Dirk could hear people screaming and cussing on all floors, along with a few parent’s and family members running by him to the nearest exit with one or more of their loved ones hooked up to a helmet. Dirk couldn’t look at them, because even though they didn’t know who he is, and most people would say this shit wasn’t his fault, he felt a huge burden on his shoulders to fix this since he was, after all, the co-founder of the game which is probably killing a lot of innocent people (and kids) right now. 

Dirk opened the door to the supply apartment, walking towards the cleanest bed and setting Dave down on it, the laptop on the side table and the wires that connect his helmet and the laptop out of harm’s way. For the next little while Dirk had worked on hooking up an IV to Dave as well as heart and other monitors to make sure Dave was ok. After Dave was secure Dirk hesitantly left the apartment, heading down the hall back to his main apartment where he hoped Jake would still be. Dirk was slightly relieved to see Jake sitting on the couch, though his expression was absolutely dreadful and sad. Jake glanced up at Dirk, nodding to the laptop Jake had put on the coffee table. “Roxy was… well… fairing a little worse than us…,” Jake said with a sad sigh, “and as for Jane, she’s fine, though her younger brother Johnathan somehow got a hold of one of those bloody helmets and is stuck in the blasted game like your brother and my sister. Both of them are awaiting you call.” Dirk walked over, sitting down beside Jake and opening up skype, calling both Jane and Roxy. Roxy was the first to pick up, her eye’s red from the tears still coming down her face. Roxy was wearing her favourite pink cat sweater her sister had knitted, and by the looks of it she was also holding a pillow with purple flowers on it. Dirk quickly glanced around the room she was in, the walls a deep purple with black swirls around it, letting Dirk know this was definitely NOT Roxy’s room. Roxy was sitting criss-cross on a chair a few feet away from a lavender bed, her younger sister laying quietly in a white and black night gown, an orange and gold neuro helmet on her head. 

“H-hey Dirk…,” Roxy said wiping away her tears, “R-rose… she…” Before Roxy could finish Jan picked up, her face absolutely red and hurt, tears pouring down her red cheeks as she screamed at her laptop, “HOW COULD YOU LET THIS HAPPEN??! HOW COULD YOU LET HIM DO THIS TO EVERYONE??! TO YOUR OWN BROTHER??!” Dirk cringed away, looking down at his lap, Jane’s words not helping the suffocating weight on his chest. “AND WHAT’S WORSE IS I JUST FOUND OUT THAT HELMET THAT’S ON MY BROTHERS HEAD RIGHT NOW CAME FROM YOUR FUCKING HOUSE!!!” This caused Dirk’s gaze to snap to the screen, looking towards the fuming Jane, who was wearing a blue top and white skirt. He looked behind her, spotting her brother in a hospital bed, hooked up to many IVs and monitors like Dave was in the other room, the custom made helmet with the blue windy symbol on it on his head, the same helmet Dirk had given Dave after he asked for one for a good “friend”. Huh, it’s a small world out there after all. John’s and Jane’s father sitting sorrowfully next to the bed, glancing up at Jane after her loud shout, obviously surprised and curious as to who got his son in this predicament. Dirk looked apologetically at Jane. “You know I knew nothing about any of this…” Dirk said quietly, his usual stoic and tough demeanor gone, “that helmet was supposed to be a gift for one of Dave’s best friends, which apparently was your little brother.” Jane didn’t stop her rant though, continuing to yell (although it was a bit quieter this time), “And because of that awful birthday present John’s stuck in that game! How could yo-,” Dirk didn’t want to, but he couldn’t help it as he stood from the couch, shouting back into the laptop with all of the pain he himself had been holding back, “AND JUST LIKE JOHN, DAVE’S TRAPPED IN THE FUCKING GAME! I would never, EVER, put Dave in harm’s way and you, one of my closest fucking friends, should know that by now! You think you’re having it rough, but how do you think I’m dealing with all of this?!” Jake, Jane and Roxy were staring wide eyed at Dirk, everyone speechless as Dirk continued his unusual outburst. “I fucking know it must be hard for you guys to see you siblings like this, I should know because my own is hooked up to a whole bunch of shit while he’s unconscious in a fucking medical bed in the next apartment over! Yet none of you even realize how much harder this shit is for me! I don’t mean to sound so selfish because holy fuck this is bad for everyone, but I was the one who created the game and helped design it, and now part of the blame is on ME for letting this happen. And now there’s a burden on my shoulders to FIX THIS!” Dirk was shaking as he sat back down on the couch, a few tears trying to break free and roll down his cheek. He sighed, rubbing his eyes with the heel of his hand, “It really fucking hurts for people to think I would do this to my own brother, the one who I raised after we were kicked out of our house by our own parents…” 

When Dirk looked back up at the screen Jane didn’t look angry anymore, she just looked sad. “Dirk I-,” Jane tried to say before Dirk held up his hand, realizing there’s not point of going back and forth with blame and apologise. “No, there’s no need for apologizes, not until we find that son of a bitch Hal and get our siblings and everyone else out of that game.” Jane closed her mouth, nodded as Jake spoke up, “But love, how are we supposed to free our siblings when we can’t get those helmets off without them being toast?” Dirk looked towards Roxy on the screen. “Good question babe. Ro-Lo, can you see if communications are up between the real world and the virtual one?” Roxy nodded, a determined look in her eyes as she began typing on her computer. “No...” She said, Jane and Jake each slumping back looking even more sorrowful before Roxy had a devious smirk on her face, the one Dirk really needed to see right now, “BUUUT since the communications network isn’t directly associated with the game’s primary interface I think if I were to hack it we could send messages through without Hal or the neuro thingys picking up on it.” Jake and Jane beamed at Roxy, both obviously glad to hear some good news for once. Dirk nodded to Roxy, a small smile on his lips. “Go for it.” 

For the next few minutes Roxy had carefully hacked through the firewalls she and Hal had set up long ago before she got through, Jane’s, Jake’s, Roxy’s and Dirk’s Pesterchum’s popping up on their computer or phone screens. “Wait!” Roxy said just as Jake and the others began typing, “We don’t know if it is entirely safe! There’s no point of blowing all of our siblings brains at the same time if it doesn’t!” Everyone was silent, looking back and forth between each other, a silent understanding in the air. “It can’t be Jade…” Jake said, looking over at Dirk, “There’s no way for us to tell if she is alright or not without her being right here.” After Jake finished Jane then piped in, “Well it isn’t going to be John either, he didn’t even own the helmet before today and it’s his birthday for god sakes!” That left only Dirk and Roxy, each staring sadly at the other. “I… I can message Rosey…” Roxy said, looking back at her sister, “She’s right here a-and if some nasty shit happens we will know a-and-,” Dirk shook his head, standing quickly, “No, if anyone’s going to message anyone, I’m messaging Dave. He’s right next door and we can bring the laptop over. I’m not going to let you risk your sister’s life after everything you have done for me and Dave Ro-Lo. Not only that but I have Jake here with me, so if some shit does happen I at least have someone to comfort me.” Jane, Jake and Roxy looked at each other before looking at Dirk. “Are you sure Dirky?” Roxy said as she picked up her own laptop and moved it to her sister’s bed. Dirk nodded as he picked up his black laptop, motioning for Jake to follow him as he exited the apartment into the long hall way of the apartment complex. Once they were inside the supply apartment Dirk set the laptop down on a table that was right up beside the wall and a few feet away from the side table Dave’s laptop was sitting on. Dirk opened up his Chum account, looking at each of his friends, Jane giving him a sad smile, Roxy giving him an encouraging thumbs up while (when he turned to look at his boyfriend) Jake gave him a sweet kiss on the lips. When Jake pulled away Dirk sighed, realizing it was now or never.

Dirk looked at his screen, finding his brother’s flashing icon, indicating that he is currently available. He began typing.

\------TimaeusTestified began pestering TurntechGodhead at 5: 57------

TT: Uh, sup Dave  
TT: I don’t know how to really tell you this, but you probably already know by now  
TT: we got a problem, and its name begins with ‘Hal’ and ends with ‘is a fucking crazed sociopath’

Everyone held their breath, Jake and Dirk turning around and watching the unconscious Dave, Dirk counting down the seconds. 12…7…5…3...2…

A small ping went off. 

 

TG: Uh, yeah, no shit Sherlock.


	4. Meeting more Internet Buddies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John and Dave talk with their siblings before going to find TentacleTherapist and GardenGnostic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi Everyone! I am so, so soooo sorry this took nearly over a week to post, however I've been having some problems in my personal life since I posted the last chapter for URWABBE, so I apologize that it had taken me so long to do this chapter. There's also a possibility that I may not be able to post the next chapter for URWABBE's within a week of the last post due to those same problems, so I would like to apologize in advance for that if it does occur. 
> 
> I will also like to let you all know that I'm so thankful to have so many supporters who enjoy my works! These are my first few fanfics I have ever written and to have so much support with them really is the best! You all are awesome! *thumbs up*
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!!

TG: Uh, yeah, no shit Sherlock

Dave had spent most of the day with his best bro in this game, nearly getting mauled by a boar, only to find out that not only is he trapped in this fucking game, but that he could die. He was ready to find out what the fuck is going on.

 

TG: Ok bro, I’m pretty damn pissed at the moment, so mind telling me what the actual fuck is going on??  
TT: Well, other than Hal trapping you guys in that game so that he can be a “god”, I don’t really fucking know.

 

Dave groaned, well that was informative, he already knew that. He looked around, most players had already fled to their houses or safe havens, very few still out in the open or even in the town square. He diverted his eyes from the bell tower that was the scene of a mass suicide. Dave, trying to find something else to look at, peered over at John, who had since stopped staring into blank space to stare at Dave and his open pesterchum confusedly. Dave, wanting to know why John was giving him that look, pressed a button on his screen so that it wouldn’t copy everything he said down to send his bro, saving his bro from being spammed when he talked to John (sadly John didn’t figure this out when he first messaged Dave, and quite frankly, Dave wouldn’t be surprised if he still doesn’t). “What?” Dave said dumbly as John rose from his seated position on the cold cobblestone, John opening up his own pesterchum account and trying to access TentacleTherapist and GardenGnostic to send them a message. Access was denied both times. Ok, now it was Dave’s turn to look confused as hell. John looked at the other boy as Dave turned back to his own pesterlog and his bro’s bright orange text, Dave tapping the screen to let it know he’s ready to send a message. 

 

TG: Hey, bro, John just tried messaging some other players but it blocked him, how the hell am I talking to you right now if he can’t access shit?  
TT: Oh right, forgot to mention that  
TT: Roxy, being the brilliant hacker she is, hacked pesterchum so we can message you guys. I don’t think she allowed you guys to send each other messages though, but I’ll ask her to look into it later, right now we sort of have bigger issues.  
TG: Ok bro, well if that’s the case then give Roxy a fist bump for me before we get down to business.

 

John tapped Dave on the shoulder, drawing Dave’s attention away from his bro once again. “Hey, uh,” John said as he looked longingly at the words on Dave’s floating screen, “Do you, um, do you think your ‘bro’ could contact my sister, Jane Crocker, and my Dad, James Egbert, and let them know I’m okay other than being trapped in this game?” John looked so sad and lost it physically hurt Dave to see him like that, Dave remembering how a few hours ago the happy John and himself had nearly gotten their asses kicked by a bunch of fat ass pigs with tusks. He smiled sincerely at John, bringing his hand from the screen over to pat his friend on the shoulder, “Sure dude, what are best bro’s for?” John gave Dave a small smile in return before both boys turned back to Dave’s floating screen. Dave brought his hand up and tapped the screen once again.

TG: hey Dirk, before we get down to business, do you think you could find John’s family? He has a sis named Jane Crocker and a Dad named James Egbert.  
TT: Well I don’t have to look very far, sort of skyping her right now along with Rox.

John and Dave gapped at the screen. “What?!” both boys said in unison.

 

TG: What?!

Oh right, it was recording what he said. Shit.

TT: thought you’d react like that  
TT: anyways, yeah, Jane’s sort of the head of our customer service department and shit. Her, Jake and Roxy also have their own accounts hacked up, we just needed to see if it worked first so I messaged you to give it a try  
TT: and since its working I just gave them the thumbs up, so your friend should get a message soon from Jane.

 

Suddenly John’s menu popped up in front of him, causing him to jump back in surprise, his pesterchum icon flashing, saying he has one new message. John had opened his account, beginning to read his message before he began whispering his responses, Jane and John probably talking about the whole situation and shit. Dave turned away from John back to his own screen, giving John some privacy as he himself beginning to whisper out his own responses. 

 

TG: yeah, John just got a message from Jane so now their talking, so I’m just gonna let him talk with her and shit. 

 

Dave stared at his screen, a long pause between his next messages because what the fuck are you supposed to say in this type of situation? Yeah, I’m chill, ain’t dead yet so it’s cool. How is it in the real world? Oh the game’s just peachy if you don’t count if we die in it we will ACTUALLY DIE!! Actually, now that he thought about it, the second option seemed ok in this situation.

 

TG: sooo, uh, how’s it in the real world?  
TT: Well, all things considered, I’m not about to sugar coat it bro  
TT: It’s insane.  
TT: I brought you to the supply apartment with all of our medical shit and as I was doing that I saw family members caring other family members down the stairs to the hospital, those fucked up helmets on their heads. Jane is in a hospital right now with John and Roxy’s getting ready to take her younger sis to one as well, Jake’s sis Jade is already at one like John.

 

Dave almost forgot the Roxy and Jake had younger sisters, maybe he knows them too, and if he doesn’t it’ll still be good to meet them and build an alliance. 

 

TG: Yo bro, does that mean there in the game too?  
TT: Yeah, Roxy’s sis is hooked up to one Roxy gave her for her B-day and Jake’s sis Jade had gotten one for Christmas.  
TG: Well since their hooked up and in the game could you ask Roxy and you boyfriend about their sister’s chumhandles? Maybe John and me could find them and help them out  
TT: That’s a good idea, here, let me ask. Brb.

 

As he waited for his bro to respond Dave glanced over at John, who was now smiling and letting out a few light chuckles here and there, though by the tears streaming down his cheeks you knew that once this brief reunion was over John was going to seriously need a bro hug. Dave looked back to his screen when he bro messaged back.

 

TT: their chumhandles are GardenGnostic and TentacleTherapist. 

 

Damn, it really was a small world.

 

TG: Holy shit, I know them  
TT: wait, Really?  
TG: hell yeah, there my other two best bros… or would it be sis’? But anyways you know what I mean, their my friends and shit  
TT: damn, I can’t believe you’ve actually met them.  
TT: Hey Dave, Roxy’s about to log out and Jake’s about to go to his sister, do you need anything from them?  
TG: nah  
TT: k bro

 

Wait a second… shIT!!!

 

TG: WAIT!!!  
TT: yeah??  
TG: I almost forgot  
TG: Tell them to tell Therapist and Garden to meet at our usual meeting place  
TT: which would be…?  
TG: They’ll know it, just tell Rox and Jake before they log out!  
TT: Ok, wait a second.  
TT: Roxy’s sis and Jake’s are heading there as we speak, they said that was the first place they were going anyways  
TG: sweet  
TG: Ok bro I’m gonna go, me and John are probably going to start heading there once I tell him the news.  
TT: Oh, ok, I guess I’ll talk to you later Dave

 

There was a pause, and just as Dave was about to close his pesterchum Dirk sent him another message.

 

TT: I’m so sorry I put you in this fucking mess by helping create those helmets. And I so sorry that I can’t be there to help you. I will do my fuckin best to try and make this right.  
TT: But as I look for a way to get those horrible helmets off you damn well better not go and die on me Dave. You’re my bro and the only family that I have left and you mean so fucking much to me. I know I don’t say that often but I’ll be damned if I don’t say it now.

 

Dave smiled at screen as he tried to hold back the tears and the sob that wanted to escape. He really needed to hear that from his bro, especially since there was a chance he may die in this fucked up game. Dave rubbed his eyes as the virtual tears began to stream down his face onto his armour. He whispered out his response through a slight sob. 

 

TG; T-Thanks Dirk, I really n-needed that. I know you’re going to find a way, you’re the most stubborn ass I know.  
TT: Well at least I know where you get it from.

 

Dave let out a laugh that was mixed with a sob, he was going to miss his bro, the strifes that they have and, sadly, he ‘may’ even end up missing his bros gross ass puppets and Cal (that’s a damn big maybe). Even though he and his bro have weird ways of showing that they care for one another, they still care, and right now they were actually telling each other how they felt, which was a rare occurrence for people who usually solve their problems with strifes or rap battles.

 

TG: I’m going to miss you so fucking much damn it.  
TT: I’m going miss you too lil man, and everyday you’re in that game I’m going to work my ass off finding that son of a bitch Hal.  
TG: Hey, just don’t beat him up to badly. When I’m out of this game I want to kick that fucker’s ass too.  
TT: sounds like a plan  
TT: anyways you and John should get going to your “secret hideout” or wherever you guys go before any other shit happens.  
TG: Damn, ok. I’ll talk to you later bro  
TT: Later lil man, be safe

\------TimaeusTestified stopped pestering TurntechGodhead at 7:02------

 

Dave closed up his pesterchum and his menu before he turned to John, who was just finishing up his conversation with his sister. Dave waited until John had closed his menu before he approached him, giving him a big bro-hug, one which, after his surprise wore off, John quickly returned. “T-thanks Dave…” John choked out, Dave himself trying to keep his cool and not break down into a complete mess. He’ll do that shit later, alone. “No problem bro, I think we all need it right now…” Dave pulled away from John after a few moments, the boy in blue had a large frown and eyes that were red and puffy from the tears on his cheeks. He moved to John’s side before he patted him on the shoulder, “Hey, I got some news to cheer you up.” John looked up at Dave, who gave him a small smile in return. “Apparently your sis and my bro not only know each other, but they also know Therapist’s and Garden’s siblings.” John’s expression brighten slightly, a growing smile creeping its way over his face, which was good enough for Dave, knowing that there really wasn’t much else he could say to really make this situation better. “Really??” John asked as he looked around the town square, “Are they nearby???” Dave grinned, shaking his head as he walked down the cobble stone street, heading out of the town square towards the tavern where he and John started their adventure, the virtual sun setting, painting the surrounding land in a golden glow. “Nope,” Dave said as John hurried to catch up to him, “they’re at our hide out, told my bro to get their siblings to message them to tell them to meet us there.” The next thing Dave knew he was being dragged down the street by a short mage that was a dork in glasses.

“Then come on!!! Holy heck I can’t wait to meet them!! Maybe I’ve meet them before and just forgot! If Jane knows them then I probably do too!...” John began to ramble on about Therapist and Garden and his sister as he dragged Dave down the street towards Sunshine Tavern with a fucking death grip. When they got to the entrance to the Tavern the two boys stopped, John and Dave looking up and down the streets which were completely deserted, trying to see if their friends were waiting for them outside. “Maybe they went to our spot already?” John pipped up as he glanced over at Dave. Dave nodded back as he opened the large wooden doors, “Yeah, they probably didn’t want to wait around and possibly get attacked.” “Wait, attacked??” John said as he followed Dave through the main seating area (which actually had a lot of teens in it, all of them looking around anxiously) up to one of the back doors. Dave nodded as he looked up and down the long, dark hallway for any signs of someone eaves dropping or watching the two boys. “Yep, you do know we’re not the most liked group in all of KCO, which means there’s a chance some assholes, like those fucking trolls, may be out to kick our asses…” Dave turned to the door and knocked on it 5 times in a row, pausing before knocking on it 3 more times near the handle. The door, which would have previously been bolted shut and off limits, seamlessly opened to reveal a steep staircase to a secret upper level of the pub. When the game was still being beta tested Dave had overheard his bro and Hal talking about adding secret rooms around each level in obvious places, and the only way to find them was to go on seemingly meaningless quests for the townsfolk. When Dave began beta testing he did all that boring shit so he could get a sweet ass hideout. It turned out that the one on the first floor, which was the easiest to obtain, was inside the Sunshine Tavern, and thankfully, after the series of quests had been completed, no one else could do them and find the hide out. His bro was a bit peeved at first, apparently wanting to use those secret rooms as guild quarters, but he relented and let Dave keep his new hide out. 

Dave had kept the location a secret for a long fucking time, and even when he and John were good online friends he didn’t let it slip. Well, that was true for the most part. When John was still a Level 22 player (sheesh that was a long time ago) and Dave was around 30ish (even though Dave had Beta tested the game his bro had reset all his progress to “give the kiddos a chance at whooping your sorry ass”) they both had finished fighting some orcs, and since Dave’s inventory was full, Dave had told John he was heading to his players house to unload. However John, being a curious little prick, had followed Dave to the sunshine Tavern without him. When Dave opened the secret door John made his character go straight up to Dave’s as he messaged “What the hell?” After that there was no real way of hiding it from him, so Dave shared it with John till it became their best bro hang out. Later on, when they meet Garden and Therapist, and when they trusted them enough, they too were allowed to visit their hideout, and eventually it became a permanent meeting place for the four of them.

Dave and John climbed up the steep stairs, Dave pushing open a wooden trap door as John closed the door behind him. When they entered the hideout Dave took in the site, this being one of the few times he’s seen it using the helmets (he didn’t really come here during beta testing the helmets, he was took engrossed in all of the other features of the game). The hideout was a large room with 3 connecting rooms, all of their walls a light yellow colour with a few rips and stains here and there, while their floors were deep chocolate coloured wooded planks (or at least they were in parts that weren’t covered by huge ass floor rugs). The ceiling was high with a circular window high on the wall being one of the very few sources of sunlight in the place. There were 2 large windows with shutters in the largest room, which was the main room, however, since the windows faced the street, their group kept them shut so no one would try and investigate. On the left side there was 2 doorways, the farthest one leading to their supply cash while the closer one was their armoury. On the right side was a door way to a bedroom with one cruddy little bed, one that Dave had only had to use a few times while playing KCO. The rugs which covered the floors were very vibrant and had purples, oranges and yellows on them (their colour scheme matching the Tavern), though they were worn and old. Around the room candles were hung by lanterns on the support beams to lighten up the room. Near the closed shutters of the large windows was a small round table, and sitting around that small round table was some new faces in familiar robes. 

Dave recognized the witch’s robe that belonged to GardenGnostic right away. The black robe had a high collar that went around her neck with a white, swirly rune engraved on it. Her top was short and had dark grey braided fabric going down its front and back to connect the top of her robe to the bottom, both sides of her exposed, revealing her very tanned skin. Her top was sleeveless, but she wore long, grey gloves that went from the back of her hand up to her upper arm. Those gloves had a small cuff around the wrist which contained a flat black stone that had white and light green specks in it, making it look like the night sky. She had a white dire wolf mask on that covered most of her face, a large portion of her hair was covered by the mass of fur that draped down her back from this mask, along with two large ears also present on her forehead from said mask. Around her neck she wore a few green and brown beaded necklaces that had a few feathers on them as well, with the largest necklace containing a Dire wolves tooth and a patch of fur. The skirt half of her robe went to her knees, it was a light grey and the sides were open, with several strips of fabric on both sides of the same colour holding the two pieces together. Underneath her skirt she wore stripped leggings that were a very light grey and white, the only real, vibrant colours on her were her ruby red boots that had a slight heel and that covered her shins, and her bright, jade eyes that were barely visible under her wolf skin.

The second girl, who Dave knew to be TentacleTherapist, was quiet colourful and vibrant compared to GardenGnostic. She wore a bright orange robe that faded to a shimmering yellow at the bottom. Her top had sleeves which exposed her shoulders and a low collar that was weaved together like a corset down her front, stopping just above her belly at a sharp point, a light purple top visible underneath her orange robe. Around her shoulders was her dark orange hood embroider with golden thread that, when she was wearing it, draped over her face. She wore a golden bracelet which twisted up her wrist on either arm, the top of the bracelets had a depiction of a sun on it (which was also her symbol). She also wore 2 arm bands near her left bicep, the bottom one a triangle pattern where the top ones where orange and the bottom ones purple, while the one above it was a light orange outline by a light purple with a sun facing outwards in the center, golden embroidery encasing said sun. At her waist, a little bit before the orange starts changing to a lighter yellow, there was two golden lines, one on each side that looked like small waves, the two lines meeting inches apart from her middle, a bit below the end of the corset. Below these two lines her robe split in two like Gardens, only differences being her robe was longer and instead of the two ends being held together by stipes hers was held together by a light orange skirt that was sewn to it underneath. Her robe ended at her feet, but the orange skirt underneath it ended at about her knees, giving her more mobility than if she wore a full length dress. The end of her robe was a bright yellow that came to a point and had a shimmer to it. She wore bright blue slippers with a slight heel, like Gardens, and white stockings that went above her knee, the end point of the stockings covered by her skirt and robe. Unlike Garden, though, her face and hair was not covered by a mask, revealing her light skin, short blonde hair held back by a black band and vibrant, violet eyes.

The two girls were staring at the two boys, TentacleTherapist’s violet were darting between the two boys, a small smirk slowing crossing her face. “TurntechGodhead...” She said to Dave before she looked at John, “…And EctoBiologist, it’s a pleasure to meet you both, even with these dire circumstances.” GardenGnostic lifted her giant ass wolf mask to reveal long, wavy black hair, circular glasses and a big grin as she bounced over to the two boys to draw them into a huge group hug, “Hey you dorks! Took you long enough!” Dave laughed as he patted Garden on the back, returning her hug, “huh, I thought it’d be good for John and me here to be fashionably late for our meeting.” Instead of a laugh from Garden he instead got her pulling away from the group hug, looking quizzical at John and Dave, the same expression on Therapist’s face as well. “John?” Garden asked as she looked over at ectobiologist, aka John, with her confused expression. John gave her a sheepish smile, rubbing the back of his neck, “Uh, haha, yeah, um, Turntech, whose actual name is Dave, thought it’d be good for us to go by first names. So, Uh, yeah, I’m John Egbert.” He said the last part holding out his hand to the witch, who gladly took it. “Well if that’s the case I’m Jade Harley!!” She grinned at John, who grinned right back. Dave glanced over at Therapist when he saw her move out of the corner of his eye. She stood from her seated position on the old chair and walked over to Dave and the others, holding her hand out towards Dave. “You may call me Rose Lalonde.” Dave smirked, taking her hand and giving it a good shake, “Name’s Dave Strider, sup.” And once again, the reaction that he expected, which was “oh swoon so nice to meet you Dave,” sort of shit, did not come, and instead he got a slap across the face. Fuck.

The culprit was Rose, who had a menacing glare on her face, Jade and John each looking horrified at the two, more specifically Dave. “Ow what the fuck?” Dave hissed through clenched teeth as he brought his hand up to his swelling cheek. Rose held eye contact with Dave, her eye’s boring into his. “You said your last name was Strider, correct? As in your related to the same strider who made this game??” She growled at him. Shit… Dave straighten up and took in a deep breath, adverting his eyes from Jade’s, John’s and Rose’s as he nodded, “Yeah, my bro made this MMO, ain’t no point in lying to you guys after all the shit that’s happened.” Dave felt that Rose was about to say something, but decided he didn’t want her calling him out and shit, so he snapped his eyes towards Rose and continued, “But he wasn’t alone, and he wasn’t the one to trap us here!” Dave looked at the two girls, “You see, the only reason you two even got messages from your siblings was because of Roxy, who worked with my bro, after she hacked pesterchum so all of our older siblings could contact us. And by the sounds of it,” Dave looked directly at Rose, “You’re her younger sister. Therefore, instead of hitting me, don’t forget that my bro didn’t create this game alone.” Rose looked more surprised than angry now. “Wait, Roxy knows the creator of this game. Dave gave her a small nod, crossing his arms, “Yep, she worked with him by programming this game, though Hal, that son of a shit, took over most of the programing for the helmets, and now we all know why. “’Programming this game”? Is this the programing job she got a few years ago but would never tell me or mother about it?” Dave nodded solemnly, “Yeah, that’s probably it, sorry she didn’t tell ya.” Rose straightened up and composed herself to look calm as she said, “It is nothing new I assume, we keep secrets from each other in a completion of sibling one-up-man-ship. I really shouldn’t have been surprised that this is what she’s been working on after she got me that helmet.” Dave sighed, “Yeah, I think most people regret getting those helmets for their family members.

There was a long, tense silence in the room, so much so that Dave just HAD to say something before he fucking suffocated. He turned to Jade, “Yo Harley, you know Dirk?” Jade immediately perked up, looking at dave with a thoughtful look, “Uhhh, hmmm, I think so, you look very familiar! Is Dirk Jake’s boyfriend?” Dave smirked, nodding, “Yep, that’ll be the same Jake English who bones my bro.” Jade smiled, but when she looked beside Dave she fell to the floor laughing, Rose covering her mouth politely as she, too, began to laugh. Dave was utterly confused by their laughter until he himself glanced over his shoulder. There was John, making the most ridiculous face Dave had ever seen. His nose and eyes were scrunched up and his bros were knitted together. His overall face made it look like he just saw a dude get hit in the nuts. Sadly for John, though, when he made that face he looked like a very pouty kid, which promptly made Dave let out chuckle as he turned around to pat John on the shoulder. “Yo, Egbert, what’s wrong? You look like you saw a guy get sacked in the balls.” John blinked a few times and shook his head before looking uncomfortably at Dave, “Oh, uh, it’s nothing really.” Dave deadpanned and looked John in the eyes, “Bull shit.” John diverted his eyes and began to fidget with his fingers, “Well, uh, I just wasn’t expecting your statement is all…” “You mean the one where I said Jake bones my bro?” There’s that face again. “YES! Please don’t say it again.” John said as he relaxed, “I don’t want to sound mean or anything but I just find it… odd??” John said the last part waving his hands around while trying to find the right word. Dave raised an eyebrow at John “So you find it odd my bro and Jake are dating?” The other boy nodded, “Well yeah, they’re both boys.” “There’s nothing wrong with that!” Jade pipped, her and Rose obviously listening in on John’s and Dave’s conversation, “Jake IS my brother after all. He and Dirk had been together for, like, forever!! Or at least as long as I can remember!” Dave noticed John was obviously uncomfortable talking about this, his fidgeting and adverting his eyes increasing tenfold when Jade came to back Dave up. Rose picked up on John’s extreme discomfort, much like Dave did, but before Dave himself could divert the conversation Rose stepped in.  
Rose cleared her throat, drawing everyone’s attention to the far side of the room where she was seated once again at the small table made for two, her virtual menu open on tutorials. “I do hate to interrupt you all talking about sexuality and Dave’s ‘Bro’ and Jade’s brother ‘boning’ each other, however I have an important question to ask you all” She motioned to the table, inviting everyone over. John was quick to take up her offer as he dashed over and sat next to the table, leaving the seat open for Jade (or Dave). Dave and Jade looked at each other, then back at the chair. “It’s mine Harley.” Dave said in a monotone as he eyed the chair. “Not if I get to it first!” Jade grinned back. Suddenly both of them rushed for the chair, Dave and Jade pushing each other away until Jade tripped Dave close to the table, who promptly fell, landing on the closest object. Which was, in the case, John Egbert’s lap. Dave, seeing an opportunity, propped his head up by his elbow while lying on his side on John’s lap and winked. “Well hello Darlin’, come here often?” He drawled in his thick southern accent, which he previously was surprising. Jade and John busted into a fit of giggles while Rose smile at them patiently. “Oh my god, seriously Dave??? Pfft,” John laughed out as he pushed Dave off of his lap onto the floor. Dave covered his heart mockingly, looking up at John, “Owww, my poor little heart! Being refused by such a lovely lady really hurts bro.” Jade’s giggles turned into loud laughter as John snorted, hitting Dave, “I’m not a girl you ass!!!” Rose sighed, causing everyone to stop laughing abruptly because, oh yeah, she need to ask them something. John looked up at Rose with a small smile, “Uh, sorry Rose…” “It’s ok John,” Rose said as she waited for Dave to sit up beside John, “It was quite amusing, I must say, however I asked you all to come over to this small table for one reason…” 

Rose clicked a few buttons on her menu, Dave unable to tell what they were until the rest of the kid’s menus popped up, surprising Dave. There was one new message, but it wasn’t from pesterchum. Hello TurntechGodhead! The small request form read, you have just been invited to a guild created by TentacleTherapist! The Location of this guild will only be revealed if you accept this request! “…Would you all like to create a guild?” Jade peered around her menu with the same message on it towards Rose. “But why do you want to create a guild now? We didn’t in the past.” Rose nodded, looking about the room, “Yes, that’s true, however circumstances are different now… I have set this tavern as our guild location, this secret top floor to be precisely. Since I put it as a secret anyone asking to join this guild will not know its location, keeping it safe. With the extra guild points and missions we will receive we can build our arsenal, and hopefully get strong enough to defeat AR, the man who trapped us in this game.” Dave smirked, “Ha, my bro actually wanted rooms like these to be guild quarters when he was creating the game.” Rose sighed, “That’s because secret area’s like these ARE guild quarters. In the tutorial it said that any secret room you find in any town has the chance to be a guild quarter, so you can either expand your guild or make one once you find these areas, this being one of them. Apparently the more people that join the guild the better the guilds location will become.” Rose looked at some torn rugs and ripped, painted walls. “And I believe that means that this living space will be improved, along with out supply cash and armoury.” Dave looked around the room, realizing that it is really only small enough to house one person, hence the signal, crappy bed. Dave looked at John and Jade, “Come on guys, she has a point. Not only can we fix up this place, but we’ll get much better loot and shit. I’m in if you guys are.” Jade pumped her fist in the air, “Count me in! Oh my gosh this will be great!!” John nodded, all three teens holding their hands just above the accept button. “Ready?” John asked as he peered over at Dave and then to Jade. “Hell yes!” Dave said as he, John and Jade all clicked the accept button within seconds of one another. 

“Wait!” John exclaimed as he looked over to Rose as the accepted request began to process, “What’s out guild name and symbol??!!!” 

Oh yeah, that was a good question.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since no one had suggested any requests for some one-shots yet I was wondering if you guys could give me one of those OTP challenges (please list what's in them since I don't know what is) so that if I believe I will take too long writing one of these chapters I can write a short one pertaining to the OTP challenge so I don't leave you guys hanging! Thanks again for supporting me!!


	5. Beta Kids

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We get to see the kids new name and slogan, and the sprites come and give the kids some bad news!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Ok, I know, this is probably late, however in URWABBE I did mention in the notes of the latest chapter for that that the chapters for both this Fanfic and my other one may be a bit late for the next month or so because of stuff, so I do apologize once more for that. And I also know this is a short chapter, but I'd rather give you guys something than nothing! I hope you all enjoy this chapter! ^w^
> 
> (p.s. could someone tell me how to upload pictures for the chapters because I drew a picture of Dirk from my other fanfic URWABBE and I want to upload it but idk how ;-; if one of you guys could tell me how I'd very much appreciate it! ^w^)

It was well known that when people created a guild the game takes the records of all of the founding people’s conquests and accomplishments into account, and the Computer automatically creates a name, logo, colour and slogan for said guild so that every guild has a unique style. And now with the computer tapped into everyone’s fucking brain it should be able to choose from a wider range of choices when creating the guild. Dave was actually a bit excited to see how it turned out, and with the walls and surrounding parts of the tavern turning into pixelated squares at it morphed and changed, he was even more curious about the outcome. 

The walls changed from the light yellow with tears in it to a nice grass green colour with not a single speck on the walls aside from the paintings and tapestries which now hung from the walls. The floor kept its dark wooden panels, however huge rugs of gold and purple designs covered the wood for the most part, and the table and chairs which Dave and the others had been seating at changed into a huge, deep brown desk with maps and scrolls scattered about it. The round window high on the wall expanded and changed to a stain glass version of Rose’s symbol (probably because she’s the host of the guild) surrounded by a lime green. The giant windows and shutters (which had been previously closed) had now changed into wide, open, windows with stained glass flowers lining the edges. The normally bare main room now had several chairs in front of the new desk, all with deep green seats, that surrounded a medium sized coffee table that also held some maps. Dave turned around and peered into the side rooms, which had grown immensely along with the main room to accommodate for all the new shit. The armoury, which had been bare for the most part, like the main area, had the new green walls and wooden floor, along with a brand new window high on the wall to let some light in, and it expanded into a small training room. The room now had two dummies, one for range and one for close quarter-combat by the looks of it, a mannequin with some kick ass armour, a weapons rack for all sorts of weapons, and 4 large chests with each of their characters symbols on it at each corner of the room. The supply room had now changed into a small kitchen with a large window over a few new oak and marble cabinets, a wood stove and freezer next to said cabinets, and along the wall there were several chests for storage, along with barrels for food and drink. In the bedroom the walls were green and the floors were wood like everyone else, and (thank fuck) the old, horrible bed had changed into 4 new, very comfy and soft looking beds at the edges of the room, the beds having covers in their players colour along with their symbol engraved on the wooden bed post and chest at the beds feet. The room was divided by a purple with gold trim curtains that could be pulled back to make the room whole again, separating the girl and boy’s side, Dave’s and John’s beds furthest from the door, next to the huge windows overlooking the city, the town square and fountain visible. The stair case leading up to the room had changed into a spiraling stair case so that it’s not as hard to go up.

Dave turned and took a closer look at the tapestries which hung proudly from the walls, the background of the tapestries were a light blue with green embroidery around it, the main image on them was a green shape resembling a house divided into four sections with a crooked roof, that had a chimney, and a small square slightly parted from the top right square. A small ping went off, which drew Dave’s (and the other’s) attention back to their menu’s, which now had their guilds symbol as one of the tabs. Dave clicked on that tab, causing a letter to appear in front of him, the others soon following suit and opening the new letter. The letter read:

 

To: Dave Strider

Congratulations on creating a new guild! Your new guild’s information is below!

Guild name: The Beta Kids  
Colour: Green with blue back ground  
Symbol: A split up green house  
Slogan: We will see home again, or die trying

Description: Your name was chosen since you are all [Kids] and friends with [Dave Strider], who was one of the main Beta Testers of the game. Your colour is green with a blue background to represent the grass and sky [Jade Harley], [Dave Strider], [Rose Lalonde] and [John Egbert] all wish to see again. The Symbol was chosen due to [Jade Harley], [Dave Strider], [Rose Lalonde], and [John Egbert] all having ties to one another and the close bond between them. Your Slogan was chosen due to the fact that you all want to go home and will do anything to reach it.

From: Katana Comic Online’s computer core

 

Dave saw John and Jade crying that the corner of his eyes, Rose trying to hold back her own just like Dave. This hit Dave hard like a bitch slap across the face, and by the looks of it, the others got the same message. John and Jade were each really crying now, Jade running up to john and hugging him as they both cried. Dave looked over at Rose, who glanced back at him before she opened up her arms, welcoming the crushing hug Dave gave her as his usual stoic demeanor evaporated into a blubbering mess like John and Jade, Rose soon following suit. Dave couldn’t remember how, but eventually all four of the teens were hugging and crying, all of them saying how much they want to go home and how they miss their families already. It was one big, sad, feels jam. Everyone eventually pulled away from the hug, looking at each other with red, puffy eyes and tear stained cheeks. “H-hey guys,” John said as he brought his hand up to wipe away the tears starting to reappear, “Let’s p-promise each other that w-we’ll actually meet face to f-face some day, like, in the r-real world and stuff.” Dave sighed, bringing his hand up to mess up Johns already messy hair, “Don’t worry John, I promise not to go get my ass whooped, cause I’ll be doing the ass whooping.” John smiled, which, for Dave, was nice to see after seeing the dork crying (though Dave can’t say he wasn’t crying like a baby, cause he was, sadly). “I, too, promise to not ‘get my ass whooped’.” Rose said with a small smile while making air quotations with her hands. “Yeah! We’re going to get out of here and I’ll show you guys my grandparents awesome island!” Jade cheered as she jumped in the air. John gave everyone a big grin, “Thanks guys…” He said, looking like he was going to cry again, “I really don’t want to lose you guys…” Dave smiled and brought John into a hug, one which John immediately returned. “We don’t want to lose you either Dork. Hell, where would we be without that buck tooth grin of yours?” John giggled into Dave’s armour as he lightly hit him, mumbling, “Asshole.” 

Dave pulled away from John, ready to retort when there were several bright flashes of light stopped him in his tracks. One orange, one pink, one dark green and one light blue. Suddenly, standing by the spiral staircase leading down to the Tavern were all of the beta kids sprites. Davesprite, who has wings, is dressed like Dave only instead his colours orange. John sprite, who has bunny ears and a cotton tail, is dressed like John, the only difference being the Johnsprite’s blue is a much lighter colour. Rosesprite, who is part cat, is dressed like Rose, only she is wearing multiple shades of pink. And Jadesprite, who is part Dog, is dressed like Jade, of course, but is in mostly tones and tints of dark green. Jadesprite is giving them all a remorseful look, while Johnsprite isn’t even meeting any of the Beta Kids eyes. Rosesprite is giving everyone a cold look, which also looks to be sorrowful, while Davesprite has a stone cold expression, one which scares the crap out of Dave. “Rosesprite, what are you doing here? I didn’t summon you.” Rose said cautiously as she eyed her sprite with uncertaintly. “Yes, you did not summon me,” Rosesprite said as she scanned the new guild, “and your friends did not summon their own ‘sprites’ either. We came upon another’s request.” It took Dave a second to figure out who, but when he did a scowl made its way across his face as he glared at the sprites. “Hal…” Dave growled at their doppelgangers, Jade and John sprite continuing to divert their eyes from the others, Dave and Rose sprite each looking sad, but still serious and stern. “Yep, that’d be who sent us.” Davesprite said as he looked Dave straight in the eyes, “He wants all the sprites to tell their players that they no longer are taking orders from them. So, we don’t work for you guys anymore, we work for him.” The sprites started to disappear, John and Jadesprite getting the total fuck out of there, Rosesprite following closely behind after her stern expression eased up into a sadden one. Davesprite turned and prepared to teleport to wherever the fuck, but he stopped, turning back to the four stunned teens. “Also,” He began, looking at them with a grave expression, “If any of you try to make it to the 100th floor, we will fight you with no mercy.” And with that, he disappeared.

Dave was so furious at that moment, how the fuck could Davesprite and the other sprites do that to the people fucking trapped in this game?! How could they threaten to fucking kill the players they’re based off of?? Why the FUCK are they helping that asshole keep the players here??! This is all fuCKING BULL SHIT! Dave began to shout, his anger boiling over in his fierce cries, “COME BACK HERE YOU COCKY ORANGE FUCKING PARROT AND FIGHT ME! I’LL SHOW YOU THE DEFINITION OF NO MERCY YOU DIGITAL ASSHOLE!!!” John grabbed Dave’s arm with a soft but firm grip, causing Dave to stop his shouting and turn around to look at John. The other boy had a determined look on his face, as well as an apologetic one. “Forget about them Dave…” John said as he let go of Dave’s arm, “Sure, they may try and stop us, but we can beat them! They are us anyways, so who else knows more about them than the people they’re based off of! We can kick their furry… er, feathery… butts!” John had a huge grin on his face which caused Dave to calm down slightly. Yeah, John’s right, Davesprite IS just a copy of Dave, so if they were to ever fight them they would be evenly matched, other than the fact that Dave, John, Rose and Jade are actual human beings. Rose walked up beside John and nodded, “That is true John, if we were to ever encounter our copies we all would be evenly matched.” Jade bounded up beside them, saying worriedly, “But if we’re evenly matched, how the heck are we going to beat them?!”

Rose looked at Jade and pulled a strand of golden hair out of her face, sighing, “That’s a good question…. Hmmm, I can’t think of anything… whatever we have equipped they will too, so we cannot have higher weapons than them, and they cannot have higher weapons than us… also whatever Level we are they will be too, and they will use the same abilities we do….” John started to chuckle, drawing curious and confused stares from the others. “What’s so funny John? We’re TRYING to find out a way to kick the sprites butts!!” Jade pouted as she crossed her arms at John. John stopped laughing, though that grin was still on his face as he rolled his eyes, “Come on guys! The answers simple! Please tell me I’m not the only one thinking this?” Dave looked at Jade and Rose to see if they knew, though they gave him and each other the same confused looks before they all turned back to John. “Sorry Egderp,” Dave said as he patted John on the back, “you’re gonna have to share your brilliant dorky idea with us.” John playfully shoved Dave before turning to the girls, glancing over at Dave a few times as he said, “Its NOT a dorky idea first off oh so Mr. cool. Secondly, my BRILLIANT idea is that we go in pairs! So like, if we encounter one or two sprites we have each other who have different abilities to defeat the other person’s sprite! Dave has his timey stuff, Rose has her seer abilities, Jade has her magic dog and I have my windy powers!!” Dave deadpanned, “Seriously? Rose and Jade get ‘abilities’ and ‘a magic dog’ while I get ‘timey stuff’? Really Egbert?” John pouted at Dave, “Oh my gosh you don’t even use your abilities so how the heck am I supposed to know your special abilities other than they’re time things??” Dave messed up John’s hair, “You ask you dork!” “I’m not a Dork!” 

Everyone agreed on John’s idea, the girls decided it’d be better for everyone if John and Dave go together because neither Jade nor Rose could “Handle Dave’s Ludacris behaviour or John’s outlandish shenanigans.” With the sun setting soon everyone decided to call it a day, the girls heading into the room and pulling the curtain closed, giving them and the boys some privacy. John and Dave quickly changed into their characters Pajamas, which they will soon learn to call their own. They were just a simple shirt and pants of their characters colour pallet. For Dave, his shirt was a light red and his pants a much darker one, close to burgundy. Johns shirt was a light blue and his pants a dark royal blue. They each slipped into their respective beds silently, a hundred thoughts racing through Dave’s head. How can they even sleep in the game?? Will they be able to even dream? What’s going to happen? However all these thoughts came crashing to a stop when he heard a quiet hiccup from John’s side of the room. Dave turned on his side, towards John, to see him curled up in a ball on his bed, facing the wall, obviously crying by the slight shake of his body and the small hiccups and sobs coming from him. Dave sighed, his heart feeling like it was being stabbed as guild rippled through it. Once again, John would not even BE here in the fucking game if it was not for Dave. He had to make John feel better, he knew it. Dave got out of his bed and silently made his way over to John’s bed, careful not to wake the girls up. He sat down at the foot of the bed, the slight dip in the mattress alerting John his was no longer alone, causing him to quiet his crying and stay under his thick blankets, trying to pass off he was sleeping. Yeah, he’s not getting rid of Dave that easily. 

“Hey,” Dave whispered as he poked the mound of covers, “John, hey, get up.” After a few seconds John hesitantly sat up, shuffling around to face Dave, the covers draped over him, completely hiding him from Dave. “What do you w-want Dave?” John said, his words muffled through the thick quilt. “We’ll talk when you take that blanket off your head.” Dave said back, crossing his arms impatiently. “Why do we need to talk??” John asked, obviously stalling. “Joooooohn,” Dave said warningly, “I’m not going to beat around the metaphorical bush with you. Take off the damn blanket so we can talk.” John was silent for a moment before he sighed, struggling with his covers until he had them around his shoulders, exposing his red, puffy eyes and the sad expression which made Dave’s demeanor change from stern and serious to friendly. He gave John a small smile, “Hey, bro, want to talk?” John glanced up at Dave, looking at him in the eyes as he said, “What is there to talk about?? We’re trapped in the game that could actually KILL US! I’ve tried so hard to keep it together but now that it’s time to go to bed, I realized that I may never see my dad or sister again! My dad use to leave me out some banana b-bread and some juice in case I-I got hungry throughout the night w-with a card that always said ‘good night son, I love you,’ and n-now I may never get to see all t-those letters I took for granted a-again or m-my f-family a-and, and….” At this point John was a blubbering mess, looking down at his lap as he let out quiet sobs. Dave stayed silent, trying to hold back his own tears because John was right, they may never get to see their families again. He may never get to see his bro again, he may never get to strife with his bro again or even show him how much he appreciates all Dirk has done for him. 

Dave grabbed the crying John and pulled him into a crushing hug, burying his face in John’s black hair to hide his own tears that began to stream down his face. John quickly hugged him back, shoving his face into Dave’s shoulder. “We’re going to get the fuck out of here,” Dave said as he and John sat there on John’s bed, both boys trying to comfort one another with a hug.

“I promise. And a Strider never, EVER, breaks his promises.”


	6. The New Tavern

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dave gets embarrassed and defensive, Rose finds out some interesting news about the tavern downstairs, and Dave rallies the people. Theeeeen the sprites come in...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiii everyone! I know this is a day late and I'm so so sorry!!! And there's not much action in this chapter, but I can promise that in the next one there will be! ~w0

Dave was having a nightmare, he had to be. He dreamed that he and his online friends were trapped in Katana Comic Online, Dirk’s MMO, with the possibility of actual death. He dreamed Hal was the douche who put them there, and that he reset all the levels so that Dave couldn’t make it back to the 99th and 100th floor without a fight. However, when Dave was drawn out of his sleep by the sound of hushed giggles, and when he felt a warm body next to his with fluffy, unruly black hair against his cheek and neck, he was snapped back to reality. He was trapped in his bros MMO by that asshat Hal, and there was a real possibility that, if they died in game, they’d never wake up. The poof of black hair was none other than a sleeping John Egbert, and the, now, full blown giggles were coming from Rose Lalonde and Jade Harley, his other two internet buds. 

Dave began to rub the sleep out of his eyes only to see him and John wrapped in John’s blanket, Dave sitting upright with John leaning on his shoulder, still passed the total fuck out, drooling on said shoulder. John had his arms wrapped around Dave’s waist, while Dave had an arm around the smaller boy’s shoulders in a tight hug. Huh, they must’ve dozed off after their feels jam last night. After examining himself and John, Dave turned his head to see Rose and Jade peeking out from behind the curtains which separated the girls and boys side, Jade letting out a chorus of giggles, while Rose had a hand covering her mouth lady like as she, herself, was letting out puffs of laughter. And what were they giggling at? Dave, of course, and the snoring snooze ball with glasses that was John Egdork. “My, my, don’t you two look comfy.” Rose smirked at them, Jade’s giggling growing louder by the second. Dave decided to humor them. “Damn straight Lalonde. Look at how comfy this Dork is right now.” Dave pointed at the sleeping John while smirking back at the two girls. Rose’s smirk turned into a mischievous smile. “Oh, but my dear David, I see nothing ‘straight’ about this picture at all.” Dave didn’t know why, but this affected him more than it should have. His cheeks began to fucking BURN, and by how Jade fell on the floor, holding her gut while barking out laughs, his face must’ve shown his surprise. “Oh… My gosh… ppfffffftt hehehehe… Dave you look like a kid caught with his hand in a cookie jar! hehehe!” Jade said through her laughter. Rose also was having a hard time controlling her own laughter, causing Dave to roll his eyes. Seriously? Dave groaned with annoyance, Was Egbert passed out on my shoulder REALLY that fucking hilarious? Yeah, I doubt it.

Dave felt something shifting beside him, and when the weight on his shoulder was removed, he turned to see John sitting upright, pushing his glasses to the top of his head to rub at his sleepy ridden, bright, sky blue eyes. Damn it. Dave had to admit, he was quiet comfortable with the warm body next to him. “Mornin Dork,” Dave said as he ruffled the newly awakened boy’s hair, “nice of you to join us.” John continued to rub at his eyes for several more seconds before readjusting his glasses and peering around the room, looking at the laughing Jade, the smirking Rose, and the embarrassed Dave. “Uuuuh… what did I miss…?” John said with a small smile as he looked over at Dave. Rose cleared her throat, drawing the attention of John. Oh shit, this can’t be good. “I was just asking if David was comfortable considering you were…,” Rose paused momentarily, inspecting the large, wet patch on Dave’s shoulder, “…drooling on him.” John’s head snapped to the side as he looked at Dave’s shoulder. “Oh my god Dave I’m so sorry!!! I didn’t mean to, err, drool on you…” John said, looking very apologetically at Dave. Dave shuffled off the bed and began to stretch, his joints cracking with each stretch. “Don’t worry bro,” Dave said as he bent backwards, stretching, “I’m not grossed out or anything. You were snozin, can’t really help what happens when you’re passed out, you know?” John smile sheepishly, “Uh, yeah I guess your right about that Dave!” Dave turned around, smirking, “Aren’t I always?” Jade began to open her mouth, probably to say some shit about that ONE TIME (ok maybe more than once) shitty battle plan Dave have had. Dave held up his hand, cutting Jade off. “How about instead of proving me ‘possibly’ wrong, why don’t we go check out the Sunlight Tavern? Up here changed, what would stop the Tavern itself from changing?”   
“Ooooooh your right!!!” Jade jumped up into a standing position before she scurried downstairs, John close behind, still tangled in his bedsheets as he stumbled down the stairs after her. Both Rose and Dave rolled their eyes, John was a goof ball and Jade was like an over eager puppy. Rose tapped him on the shoulder, and when he saw the coy look on her face, he knew this wasn’t going to be pleasant. “Sooooo…,” She began as she walked to the front of Dave, sitting on John’s bed, her smug look growing by the second, “Care to discuss your affection for dildos?” Dave crossed his arms, keeping his posture as relaxed as possible, not letting her get any satisfaction for annoying and bugging him. However, his body had other ideas, and chose to make him as red as the Pajama’s he was wearing, causing Rose’s smug smirk to turn into an amused grin. Fuck her. “First off, fuck you. Secondly, Jade and John are probably waiting for us downstairs, so I’m not about to give you the ‘pleasure’ of a nice chit chat about dicks and whatever.” Dave responded, a bit of venom leaking into his words. Rose, however, doesn’t know when to quit. “Oh dear, it appears I hit a nerve.” She stood, walking over towards the stairs leading down to the Tavern where John and Jade could be heard talking eagerly. “However you do have a point about our dear friends waiting for us, so I will postpone my talk with you over your affection.” Thank. Fucking. God. Without another word Dave and Rose descended the stairs to find John and Rose eagerly talking at the bar, the Tavern…  
Holy. Shit.

The Tavern had doubled in size at least. The walls no longer looked worn, and they were no longer that light orange colour, but rather a nice, rich Jade green. In between the tall windows, whose curtains where now a bright golden colour, there were narrow Panels outlined in dark oak wood. These Panels had a light orange background, with a half circle at the top of the panel in a light gold with several strips of gold fading into a dark orange that went from the half-circle to the bottom the panel, slightly growing in size as it descended. One either side of these panels were longer versions of the tapestries that were inside their (no-so-) secret hideout. The floor was still that nice, rich, dark wooden panels. The tables around the bar had grown into giant round tables with a black table cloth that had gold trim, their guilds symbol in green at the center of the cloth. There also were now booths at the center of the barn, spanning the length of the Tavern. On either side of the small half-wall were booths, back to back to one another, that had gold and green seats, the same table cloth draping over the booths’ tables. The bar had also grown in size, however it still kept its colour and still had those swirls engraved into it in gold. The giant windows also had stain glass suns had bright, stain glass suns in the center of the slightly narrow windows. What Dave thought was cool was the ceiling, where gold faded inwards into a bright, sky blue that had puffs of clouds painted across it, a yellow and orange sun chandelier at the center of the ceiling, lighting up the room with his soft glow. 

There were a few other people inside the Sunshine Tavern, looking at the new additions in awe. Dave whistled as he sat down at the bar beside John. “Damn.” Was all he could say as he continued to take in the view. “I know! Isn’t it awesome??!” Jade shrieked as she spun around on the bar stool, grinning widely. “This is so coooool!!” As soon as Rose sat down the female AI bartender appeared wearing a green silk dress with a black corset and gold trim. A messaged appeared in front of Rose as the bartender waited patiently for Rose to read it over, her lips quirking up into a smile. John look curiously over at Rose, much like Dave and Jade, as she clicked the accept button, causing the message to disappear and the bartender to walk away to assist some players at the other end of the bar. “Hey Rose, what’s that message about?” John inquired with a quirked brow. “Apparently I am now in charge of the Sunshine Tavern…” Rose said as she stood from her seat, walking around and behind the counter to grab a drink. “Wait, how could you be in charge of this place?” Jade said as she reached over the bar to grab a pear while looking at Rose confusedly. “That’s a good question Jade,” Rose began, taking a swig of some weird ale, “If I had to theorize the answer, it would probably be that, since I am the founder of our guild, which is also located in this Tavern, I had ‘bought’ the Tavern when I created the guild, making me it’s owner.” “Holy shit, you bought this place?” Dave said with crossed arms. Was she insane??? Dave knows he had enough to buy this place, but Rose?? “Yes Strider, that’s what I think. And to see if I am correct…” Rose trailed off, opening up her menu and going into her treasury, where a huge transaction was at the top of her most recent purchases. “Hmm, that did set me back a few hundred thousand….” Rose whispered to herself as she rubbed her chin absently in thought. 

“So you did buy this place?” John asked as he stood and walked over to one of the windows with the stain glass, peering out side at the small crowd beginning to gather. Rose nodded as she, herself, walked over beside the raven haired boy. “Yes, it appears so. And If I read that message accordingly, there are several rooms in the back which are empty and ready to be set for a certain purpose, one which I believe will help everyone.” Dave and Jade walked over beside their two friends as well, Dave munching on an apple he snagged from behind the counter, while Jade was just finishing her pear. “Oh, and what brilliant plan would that be Lalonde?” Even though with Dave’s sarcasm and light hearted tone evident, Rose turned to him with a serious expression. “We will use those rooms as housing for any players who are in need of a shelter. New players would not have a house yet, and therefore, no safe Haven. We will make this a home away from home, we will make this a place of comfort in a time or sorrow, and we will make this worthwhile.” The other teens stood there silently, one by one nodding in agreement with Rose’s idea. She was right, of fucking course. There were plenty of newbies when the helmets came out, and since one of the few ways to earn money in the game is to kill beasts, they probably can’t afford shit. 

Dave turned on his heels, heading for the doors which the growing crowd surrounded. “Wha- wait, Dave! Where are you going?” John said as he ran up beside the blond haired boy, the two girls following suit. Dave walked quickly around the mass amount of tables, stopping abruptly at the door, causing John to run into his back, the girls barely stopping in time. “Ooow, you could have given me a heads up you know!” John said as he stumbled back, rubbing at his nose. Dave turned around to face his friends, hands on the elegant brass door handles, unfazed by John bumping into him. He gave them a small smile, and a simple nod to follow him as he opened up the doors, bright light from the sun momentarily blinding him. Once his eyes adjusted he could see the crowd had since doubled in size, and when he turned around, he saw why. The Tavern had that rich green on the outside walls as well, and between the elegant windows and the black tiled roof, it looked a lot different from yesterday. The large, blue background tapestries with their green symbol also adorned said walls, along with a bigger ‘Welcome to Sunshine Tavern’ sign above the door. He turned back around to the crowd, scanning over each face: Young and old, black hair, blond hair, red hair and brown hair, blue eyes, green eyes, brown, violet, pink, witches, wizards, rogues, warriors, and everything in-between. All of the attention now on a 16 year old boy with blood red eyes who, if he was being honest, didn’t know what the fuck he was doing. 

“Ok, listen up. I’m not going to sugar coat it, you all already know what’s going on with that fucker Hal and how he has us trapped in here.” Dave began, squaring his shoulders and standing tall with his head held high, “But the thing is, you all are not alone. There are millions of people just like you trapped in this fucking game, and the only thing standing between us and freedom is 100 levels and one asshat named Hal Author.” When Dave saw some of the younger ones, maybe 10 at the youngest, starting to quiver and shake, he knew what he had to say. “My friends and I have just created a guild, as most of you can tell. We’re now called ‘The Beta Kids’, and you see our symbol,” Dave turned slightly and pointed to the symbol on the tapestries beside the main doors, “You see that? That’s a fucking house with a blue sky. And you know why that’s a house with a blue sky? Because the game said that we will do everything we fucking can to get home. It chose blue and green for our colours because it knows how much we will fight to see the blue sky again and feel the green, prickly grass beneath our feet.” Some in the crowd were crying, others were cheering, and some were hooked on every word Dave was saying. Damn, he never thought he’d be a fucking motivational speaker. “And you want to know what our slogan is?” Dave glance behind himself as he said that, making eye contact with the other three teens before turning back to the cheering crowd. “We will see home again, or die trying!!!” Dave, Jade, John and Rose shouted in unison, reaching to the sky with their hands, a determined look on their faces. With that, the crowd let out a long, loud cheer, their hands in the air and chanting “Be-ta Kids!!! Be-ta Kids!!!” over and over. 

However, as Dave and the other’s entered the Tavern to inform everyone on their planes and to treat them to some well needed food and rest, they were oblivious to the two pairs of eyes that were glued to them. The two sprites stood silently atop of the hill overlooking the town, the midday sun glistening off of orange feathers and warming blue bunny ears.

“Davesprite… What are we going to do?? I don’t want to kill the original John! He’s nice, like me!!! How can I kill someone who I’m based off of??? It’s like I’m killing myself!!” Johnsprite said with a small sigh, sitting down on the soft, virtual grass, careful not to crush his cotton tail as he brought his legs up to his chest, hiding his face from view. Davesprite was standing on a rock with his arms crossed, peering out at the crowd as it started to dissipate and enter the larger Tavern. His whole body was tense, the threats from Hal hours before still fresh in his mind. He couldn’t let Hal do that to him and his fellow sprites… he wouldn’t…. 

He was silent for another moment before he jumped off of the large rock, uncrossing his arms to lift up Johnsprites face from his knees, the poor guy looking like he was about to cry. “Hey…,” Davesprite said softly as he gave Johnsprite a small, loving peck on the lips, “First off, you are John, and that fucker down there is just another John. You are your own person John, just like me. I’m Dave, you’re John. They’re Dave, They’re John. I don’t give a fuck if we were made inside ‘a computer’ and are made off of those assholes personalities, we’re not just some computer program and I want you to know that dude. I love you John. I Love you so fucking much and I will NOT let anything happen to you, I will protect you. I will be your knight while you are my heir. I-,” Johnsprite wrapped his arms around Davesprites shoulders and pulled him into a tight hug, Davesprite’s rant stopping abruptly as he returned the embrace, wrapping both his arms and wings around the smaller sprite. “I... I love you too Dave…” the smaller sprite whispered into the others ear. Davesprite smiled into Johnsprites soft, dark blue hair, hugging the other closer. After a few moments Davesprite gave Johnsprite one last squeeze before he broke the embrace, standing back and holding a hand out to Johnsprite, hoisting him to his feet. “Ok, we better get moving or else Hal will… you know…” Davesprite trailed off, a lump forming in his throat. The other sprite’s bunny ears flattened as he nodded, a mutual understanding of the consequences if they were not do their job properly. 

“Alright…,” The orange sprite said, turning on his heels and walking towards the town, the smaller one hoping to his feet to follow. Davesprite sighed through gritted teeth.

 

“Time to kill some kids….”


	7. Dungeon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Johnsprite doesn't want to hurt the real John or Dave or anyone, and his plan that he thinks will give them a chance of surviving ends up having dire consequences for the people he was trying to help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Ok, if you aren't reading URWABBE (my other Fanfic) then I'll let you know that my updatign schedule has changed. I will no longer be updating each of these within a week of their last update, as it got too stressful for me. So now I will be updating once a week for both of my Fanfics. This week I am updating SAO (that is this update) and next week will be URWABBE's turn to get updated. I think my update Day will be Friday from now on, however if I finish a chapter early then I'll post it early. This chapter is pretty long, I'm not sure if I should break it up into two chapter's, but I think I'll just leave it as one. I hope you guys enjoy it! ^w^
> 
> P.S. LOTS OF DEATH IN THIS ONE I'M SO SORRY ;M;

Davesprite drew his sword, carefully making his way towards the town, Johnsprite following close behind. Personally, he really didn’t want to do this. Hell, he was a fucking bird copy of the other Dave, and he knew damn well killing people who are so, so similar to his friends is going to suck balls. He put that thought at the back of his mind as he and Johnsprite quickly rushed through the town, doing their best to not be seen by passing players (which was pretty easy considering most of them were at the Sunshine Tavern with their targets). They were at the back door to the newly revamped building that was now the “Beta Kids” guild headquarters, Davesprites sword drawn and Johnsprites staff in hand. He put his ear against the door, listening to see if there were any players near the door, knowing that if they busted in right away someone could alert their players, who could easily escape or call upon the other players for defense. However, just as Davesprite turned around, his mouth opening to give the other sprite the ‘all clear’, a noise coming from inside the tavern made his heart sink in his chest. As he stared at Johnsprite with a half open mouth a chorus of loud laughter echoed from the crowded bar, through the partially open windows out into the alleys and streets. They all sounded so happy, laughing and joking, nearly causing a smile to tug on Davesprites lip. But that smile never came as the pained look in Johnsprites now dull, light blue eyes made the aching feeling in Davesprites chest worsen with each passing second. And not only that, but through the loud bounds of laughfter pouring through the door Davesprite was able to pick out that one, wonderful laugh, full of snorts and wheezes, that caused his heart to flutter and fill with joy in any other circumstance. It was John’s, but not his John’s. His John hasn’t laughed like that since Hal threatened them. He hasn’t laughed his wonderful laugh, and hearing the other John laugh so loud, so full of happiness and joy filled Davesprite with both rage and sorrow. Why couldn’t they have that? Why couldn’t they enjoy their world? Why couldn’t they be considered people instead of objects to be used for someone’s own personal gain? Just. Fucking. Why?

Davesprite, now fueled with a burning rage, spun around, gripping the brass handle of the back door, ready to throw that sucker open and fly in there, ready to fight. Johnsprite had other plans though. He grabbed Davesprite’s arm quickly, causing Davesprite to turn on his heels, a scowl on his face and his feather bunched up and poufy like a pissed off bird. “Wha-?!” Soft, comforting blue lips were on his before he could even finish his sentence. Davesprite instantly relaxed, bringing his hand up and running his thumb along his boyfriend’s cheek as the other hand ran through his dark, dark blue hair. They held the loving kiss for a few fleeting moments, Johhsprite pulling away from the contact, a light pink dusting his check, Davesprites own feeling hot. Their face were still inches away from one another, Davesprite’s hand in the other sprites hair and on his pink cheek. “D-Dave I…” Johnsprite began, looking down to his feet as he absent mindedly played with the fabric of Davesprite’s shirt, “…I have an idea.” Davesprite smiled down at the smaller sprite, most of his anger and rage gone with one look into those beautiful blue eyes. He grinned, pulling the other closer into another kiss as he mumbled into his lover’s lips, “Great idea, Kissing sounds good right about now…” However Johnsprite pushed Davesprite back out of kissing range, his cheeks now flaring up into an inferno as the orange sprite looked at him confusedly. “T-THAT’S NOT WHAT I MEANT DAVE!” Johnsprite squawked, quickly covering his mouth and realizing his mistake of shouting. He began peering around to make sure no one heard him, his big, fluffy bunny ears twitching and listening for any players approaching them. Once he was satisfied no players heard his outburst he uncovered his mouth, his voice low as he hissed out, “That’s not what I meant! I have an idea of how to deal with the other Dave and John!”

Davesprite was definitely confused now. Johnsprite didn’t want to even see the other John when they had to threaten them, let alone discuss how to deal with them. “But I thought you didn’t want to hurt them Egbunny.” Davesprite responded, letting go of Johnsprite and crossing his arms at the bunny sprite. Said sprite sighed, slumping against the wall, “Yeah… yeah I really don’t, which is why I have an idea of how to, uh…” he trailed off, looking up at the orange sprite with a grim expression, the other sprite nodding for him to continue, “My idea of how to, uh… O-off them… is better than rushing in there and killing them ourselves.” Before Davesprite could ask ‘k, so what’s the plan babe’, John didn’t miss a beat as he continued, “What we could do is tell Hal it’d be easier for us to get rid of many of the more skilled players by setting up a dungeon with a lot of good loot, but it’d be littered with hard monsters and stuff. So like, it’d be hard for them to get through it, and the ones who do will still have to back track through the monster infested tunnels to get free! I know it seems mean, but when you think of it, it also gives the players a chance to survive, and it’d be easier for us since we won’t be outnumber 10 fricken thousand to one!”

Davesprite said nothing, his body tense as he fought through the pros and cons of this idea Johnsprite had. For starters, it was actually pretty sweet. They wouldn’t have to do any blood shedding, they wouldn’t have to face the other John or Dave, and they wouldn’t run the risk of getting fucked up themselves. However, if Hal didn’t like the plan and didn’t like how they were chickening out, they’d be in some serious shit. He continued to think through the pros and cons, Johnsprite looking at him anxiously before Davesprite sighed, looking over at his friend as a small smile. “Damn Eggbunny, with a plan like, who’d say no?” Johnsprite immediately brightened up, hugging Davesprite tightly around the waist, kissing him sweetly. Davesprite eagerly returned both the kiss and the embrace, not knowing if this may be their last…

Davesprite and Johnsprite returned to the hill top, both of them deciding it’d be better to contact Hal were there weren’t any players currently. They turned to each other, each of them saying ‘I love you’ through the caring looks they gave each other. Davesprite would do anything for Johnsprite, and he damn well hoped he wasn’t about to fuck it up. He turned away from Johnsprite, waving his hand in front of himself, causing a small screen to pop up in front of the two sprites. On the other side was Hal, his horrid red eyes train on the two, his lips pulled into a sinister grin. Davesprite did his best to keep his composure as those piercing eyes searched his own. He had the same eye colour as the other Dave, however the other Dave’s red eyes were softer, gentler and full of compassion for his friends and family. Hal’s were just full evil. “Sooooo,” Hal grinned triumphantly, “I take it since you two are standing here before me you outed my old friends little brother, Dave Strider?” Davesprite gulped, slowly shaking his head. As Hal’s triumphant smile began to recede into an angry scowl, Johnsprite piped in, “But we have a plan! It’ll make it, uh, easier to get rid of more kids all at once!” Hal’s gaze snapped over to Johnsprite, who flinched as the red eyed bastard spat, “Oh really?? Well I find it very surprising that a stupid computer copy of some teenage kid’s brain would come up with a ‘brilliant’ idea of how to get rid of my problem!” With each insult that Hal threw at Johnsprite, Davesprite found it harder and harder to hold his tongue, but soon it became too much. Before Hal could continue spewing painful words at the shaking Johnsprite Davepsprite stepped forward, saying confidently, “Lord Hal, Johnsprite thinks it would be smart if we created a dungeon filled with items that none of the players would be able to resist. This would make a large portion of them go into the dungeon, where there could be a lot of monsters, or a trap could be set up or some shit. This would knock out some of the best players of the game, so they would no longer be a threat to you.” Davesprite shrank slightly as Hal slowly turned towards him, “Uh, that’s the plan he made up, my lord…”

Hal stared blankly at the two sprites, his fingers tapping on the panel in front of him. Davesprite was rigid, not even attempting to look over at Johnsprite, knowing that Hal rather be the center of attention. As the silence dragged on, Dave knew he was beginning to show his worry in his features by the smug smile spreading across Hal’s face. He began chuckling cruelly, his red eyes filled with pride and villainy as he smirked, “My, my, my, it appears I had you two computer programs all wrong, apparently you can think for yourselves!” Davesprite immediately relaxed the more Hal talked, praising their plan. “I like your idea. Not only will it get rid of anyone who could threaten me, but it’ll also give me a show!” Hal pouted momentarily, rubbing his chin, “Huh, but I guess I would feel pretty crappy if Dave got killed. Sure, he is a big threat I want gone, but I knew him since he was a kid. Oh well, you warned them, and since they aren’t going to listen, that isn’t my fault.” Hal stood from his seated position, the camera now showing only his torso as he reached behind the computer, a few different clicks and taps being heard as Hal add the new feature (trap) to the game’s first floor. Davesprite and Johnsprite smiled over at each other as Hal did this, both of them obviously relieved that the threats Hal had said earlier wouldn’t happen to them yet. They quickly turned back to the screen, acting like nothing happened as Hal sat back down, looking between the two of them. His smile soon flattered, his expression turning bored as he waved the two sprites off. “Go kiss or fuck or whatever two computers do when they have the hots for one another, I don’t care. Just don’t do it in front of me.”

With that the screen turned black, disappearing in the air, leaving the two sprites by themselves with the knowledge that their plan was now in effect. This did not comfort Davesprite like how he thought it would…

\--------------------------------

“Damn, you guys are insane!”

Dave smirked, sitting down on a comfortable bar stool, looking out at the rowdy group of pre-teens, teens and young adults gathered around the Sunshine Tavern. Dave had been true to his word, using his money to buy everyone food and drinks for their characters to fill up on, while also giving shelter to both the younger and more unexperienced players using the (no longer) unused rooms in the back. Right now all of Sunshine’s supplies was sold out, Rose regaining a large portion of the money she lost buying the place in the process. However, due to the place being an actual fucking bar, a lot of people were getting tipsy. Apparently the helmets not only relay that your full after your character eats so much food, but it also relays that you’ve been drink, which is why most of the more mature players are acting drunk off their asses, because in reality, they technically are. Rose had also participated in some drinking after she was offered some by a young woman with vibrant jade eyes, white as snow skin and short, black hair that flared out to the sides. She was wearing a long red skirt with a black, wrap around top that had broken sleeves at the shoulders, her sleeves fanning out at the wrists. By the looks of the pouches strung along her belt, and by the swirly charms and glowing crystals around her neck, she was a healer, or a sylph (if you wanna get all technical about the classes in this game). Dave had been hanging with those two for a while after John and Jade had wondered off to make new friends, but as Rose started to make goo-goo eyes at the other girl he high tailed the fuck out of there, not wanting to be a third wheel for whatever was about to go down. 

He had spotted Jade first, across the tavern by the front doors, her giant ass white wolf mask that had a huge mane was hard to miss. As he approached her though he bumped into a girl with dark brown hair and long pony tails, who had previously been telling the small group of people around her about some sick ass story. “Oh shit sorry-,” Dave began, only to be cut off as she spun around, her plump magenta lips set into a slight snarl, her vibrant Fushia eyes locked on the surprised Dave. However, after a moment Dave saw recognition flash across her face, her snarl turning into a wide smirk. “buoy, oh buoy, look what we have here! Dave Strider, the buoy who is tryin’ to kelp save our fried asses.” She paused, looking around at the room of people before she looked back at Dave, an impressed look on her face. “Damn, you got a lot of shit on your plate bro if ya thinkin about takin on that shark to save us. What’s that’s fucking asshole’s name…. oh yeah, Hal.” Dave was a bit surprised by the slight praise, considering he, also, recognized the player. She had long, black, skin tight pants which were covered by a set of dark, nearly black, brown leather pads which acted as armour, her black boots with thinner pads on the front and top reaching up to her knees. Her top had two parts, the top one was a low hanging shirt, with one part of the neck slipping over her shoulder, the second was the bright pink top underneath which had sort of rune carved into it. Her sleeves went down to her elbows where they were then meet by a light gauntlet which was made out of the same black leather as her boots. On her face she wore a bright fushia war paint that looked like an H with curved lines. Her arms, ears and neck were decked out with Gold. 

She watched him for a few moments, and when she didn’t get an awnser she sighed, “Look, I know who ya are. You’re that little beach which kept messin with the fish I swim with, includin me. And I know that we had our little fights and shit, but you may be the only person reely capable of killing that motherfucker without getting caught.” She smiled at Dave more sincere this time as she held out her hand, her stance proud, “How boat we get a drink and call it a truce?” Dave felt uneasy about her, but when he glanced over to see Jade gone to who knows where, he really had nothing else to do. He looked back at her, her smile turning into a grin as she noticed she hooked him. “Sure,” he shrugged, talking the hand firmly and giving it a good shake, “Why not? And since we’re about to be drinking buds, mind telling me what your name is?” “Meenah Peixes is ma name.”

And that was how he ended up at the bar once again, watching as Meehan and Cronus, one of her friends, wrestle around for the last piece of fish, which was currently in Cronus’ possession. “GIV-E IT TO M-E OR SO K-ELP M-E AMPORA I WHAL-E KICK YOUR ASS!” “Givwe me a kiss and maybe I wvill Babe.” “TH-E ONLY THING OF MIN-E THAT WILL TOUCH YOUR MOUTH WILL B-E MY FUCKIN BOOT IF YOU DON’T GIV-E ME THAT FUCKIN FISH!” “Ouch, that was a bit cruel darling, wvhy don’t I change your mind by-,” Dave rolled his eyes as they continued at it, the other members of their posy watching with both boredom and annoyance. A dude in a red robe that had a high neck with black lines decorating it, and black pants sighed. “Must I explain 9nce again h9w y9u sh9uld n9t 6e using such f9ul language ar9und min9rs Miss Peixes?” Instantaneously everyone in the group, except Kurloz and Dave, immediately shouted, “OH HELL NO!” The boy did just that, his eyes which were the same vibrant shade of red as Dave’s looking away, out into the crowd. His hair was black and fluffy looking, but his expression looked annoyed and slightly hurt. That was Kankri, who was a mage, and the Girl next to him in a short, torn blue robe and white glasses who tried comforting him was Aranea, who Dave found out was a sylph. Beside her was Kurloz, who never spoke and wore a weird clown get up and face paint, his girlfriend, Muelin, who was deaf and had a cat mask, tail and green, leather armour, was right by his side. Rufioh, Damara and Horuss were on the other side of them, along with Porrim, Latula and Mituna. Dave thought they were all pretty chill, their group having an equal mix of warriors and magic wielding players (unlike his guild, which was ¾ magic and ¼ brute strength. He had looked around for his friends, Rose having wondered somewhere, away from the bar, with the lady who she was flirting with (who was named Kanaya, and who was Porrim’s younger sister). When he continued to look around he saw John talking up a girl with long, spikey black hair, dark indigo eyes, and an orange and red outfit like Meehan’s. When Dave saw John laughing and slirting with her, a weird feeling sprung up in his chest, and so he pushed the thought of walking over to John out of his mind, not wanting to disturb John’s romantic endeavours, even if it left an odd feeling in his own chest.

Dave’s attention was drawn back to the two tussling players, Meenah standing victoriously above Cronus, fish stick in hand. “That’s what you get when ya mess with the queen beach!” Meehan grinned smugly down at Cronus, who rolled his eyes and gave a short, “Yeah, yeah, wvhatevwer” as he stood, his violet eyes never leaving Meehan as she devoured the fish stick. Dave laughed along with the others at the display, feeling more relaxed knowing that these guys didn’t have it out for him like he thought they would. Before anyone could congratulate Meehan however everyone’s menu’s appeared in front of them, startling many, and scaring most. Meehan glared at hers as she growled “What the fishin fuck does he want??” Dave felt his chest tighten substantially as a video, which was at the center of everyone’s floating screens began playing. The bored face in the center belonging to none other than Hal.

“Man, you all are nooooooooo fun,” The man on the screen began in a dreary voice, obviously bored. “All you kids are doing is having a big party, one which I’m not invited to! Which I think is no fair.” Dave bit back a growl of his own as Hal looked straight forward, making it look like he’s looking directly at Dave, blood red eyes meeting blood red eyes. “However I will look past you not inviting me to a sick ass party in favour of you getting your asses in gear.” At that Hal motioned with his hand to his left (everyone else’s right) causing a series of images of millions of gold coins, powerful staffs, swords, ruins and potions to appear, strong armour and enchanted robes in the mix as well as images of large skeleton like creatures that had black oozing from their eyes. “This, right here, is an offer. These picture are showing you what you could have if you accept my challenge. You will get enough currency to buy every tavern, every store, and every house in game. You will get the most powerful weapons of every caliber, every style and every function. The most powerful runes and potions will be at your disposal. All of this, and all you have to do is infiltrate a dungeon.” Dave had dread pooling in his stomach. Whatever dungeon Hal was talking about was probably on the 60th level, no less. Hell, with armour and swords like that Dave could fly through the rest of the levels and kick the smug fucker’s ass. Meenah also thought this, however she decided to speak her mind rather than hold back. “Yo, fish breath!” Meenah glared at her screen, her voice causing Hal’s unamused and bored face to tilt slightly to the side, his expression now curious. “We know that’s so sick booty you got lined up for us, but we ain’t on the fishin millionth level buoy! What make you think your gonna reel us in with that if we can’t get to the level it’s on?” The man on the screen grinned widely as he said, his voice low and smug, “That’s the thing, it isn’t on a high level at all. In fact, you’re only a few miles away from it.” 

Meehan was now the confused one, as was Dave and probably everyone else in the fucking game. Hal busted out laughing, now amused by the expressions given off by everyone. “Oh my god you should see your faces! Bwahahaha!” But just as soon as his laugh came, it disappeared, his expression going flat as he looked directly at the screen once more. “But no, I’m serious. It’s like, 13 miles away from you. And I’m being serious. If you guys can infiltrate this dungeon and beat the monsters, you’ll get the loot.” His grin was now wicked as he crossed his heart, “Cross my heart… Hope to die…win my game…, or you’ll die…” 

Dave tried his best to hold his stoic demeanor as his eyes quickly flashed around, searching for his friends. Jade was now beside John in a booth with the girl John was talking up (who looked strangely like Areana with longer hair) and a shorter (and a more grumpy) version of Kankri. Dave eyes flicked around, spotting Kanaya holding up a very tipsy Rose, both of them looking at their screen in horror. Dave had an internal conflict. He knew going after this shit was probably some trap that Hal set up, but at the same time he knew that if he could get a hold of those weapons and armour and other shit, he could ace all the levels from here on out without having to worry about dying…

However, before Dave could do anything, Meenah crossed her arms, her stance proud, daring and proud, her smile pulled into a grin similar to Hal’s. “You’re on buoy. We’ll have your shitty dungeon cleared with that booty and money in no time! And then we’ll be on our way to krill ya!” Hal looked at little surprised by this, his expression growing more surprise as Dave stood up next to Meenah, nodding. “Yeah, watch your back Hal, cause once we have those weapons you’ll be fucked.” Dave quickly looked to his friends. John was gaping at him in disbelief (probably thinking he’s a total idiot), while Jade looked furious and worried, Rose mimicking her expression through her drunken haze. He all quickly gave them apologetic looks as more and more of Meenah’s group stood, each of them pronouncing Hal as a dead man. Bye the end Hal was looking at the group of 13 with a quizzical look before he hummed, “Alright. Anyone else wanting to join this group before I give them the location of the dungeon?” A heavy silence hung in the air, Dave staring John down when he looked like he was getting ready to stand. He would NOT endanger his best bro because his lack of judgment. His message was convoyed through his stern, but still caring glare, John quickly receding back into his seat. Everyone was staring at the group, and when no word was said a new messaged appeared on Dave and the other 12 kid’s screen. “These are the Coordinates. They are blocked out to any other players, and you can’t say them either as it’ll come out as nonsense. This prevents anyone following your group.” Hal paused, his eyes sweeping the screen momentarily before he sighed, bringing up his own, very complicated menu full of code, where he then tapped several locations which appeared to be in a random order. However when everyone’s pester logs opened up and appeared to be working with the only connections between players (except for Dave’s and the 3 other Beta Kids, but no one else knew that) it appeared that that tapping wasn’t so random after all. “Consider this as my form of hospitality,” Hal smirked, closing his menu, “Can’t have you having no way to contact each other now can I?” With that Hal disappeared from the screen, Pesterlog being the only tab open on their small, floating menus. 

Slowly mumbles from the crowd turned into loud voices and some shouts of praise and bravery, all directed towards the group of 13. Meenah apparently was taking charge, commanding their group to “gill (gear) up”, making it apparent they were heading out immediately. Dave quickly equipped his armour from him inventory, and as the other gathered their things from their inventory and fanned in the praises they were receiving, Dave decided to approach his bewildered friends. Rose was now sitting at the same booth Jade and John were in, Kanaya holding her hand tightly, the other two who were previously sitting with them nowhere in sight. Jade didn’t hold back her anger. “WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?!” Jade screamed at Dave, and even though her tone was full of rage, he could hear the worry in it. John also looked at Dave with probably the saddest expression he has ever seen. “Why are you going out and endangering yourself Dave?” John frowned, his bright blue eyes no longer happy and energetic, “I thought we were going to stick together, like best bros…” Rose was also giving him an unimpressed and angered look, causing Dave to sigh and hang his head. “Ok, ok, I know I sort of fucked up taking up this challenge.” He peered up at his friends, knowing he had to make this right. “I know you all are pissed off at me and think I’m a total idiot for doing this, but with those weapons I know that we’ll be able to defeat Hal. You guys can be pissed at me all you want, but that won’t change what’s done.” Their angry expressions softened slightly, John looking down at the table as he sighed, “It’s just that… I thought if you were going to do something stupid like that, you’d at least let us help you.” John’s head snapped up as he raised his arms, motioning to Meenah and the others, “I thought you would at least do someone like this with us! Not some random people! Wait a second…” John squinted his eyes at Meenah before he turned, looking Dave straight in the eyes, his expression hurt, “Are you fucking serious?! Those are the jerks who kept messing with us during out quests, and you’re going on a fucking suicide mission with them?!” “No… fuck, ok maybe?” Dave said hurriedly, his chest feeling tight under the scrutinizing eyes of his friends, “Meenah apologized for doing that shit, and we called a truce. When you’re in a life or death situation you tend to be nicer to people bro.” John huffed, crossing his arms and leaning back into his booth seat, obviously not pleased with this news. Rose had said nothing, preferring to keep a careful eye on Dave while Jade was doing her best not to slap him top side the head.

Before Dave could apologize Meenah called out, causing the other 11 players to go to her, Dave being the only one to hesitate following her as she walked out the door, cheers from the crowd echoing behind her. Dave began to follow, turning away from his friends hesitantly, however he was only able to take a few strides before the guilt got to him. He looked back over his shoulder, his expression apologetic as he looked at his worried friends, whose eyes were trained on him. “I didn’t want you guys coming because I don’t want you guys to get hurt. I hope you guys understand I’m not replacing you, I’m trying to keep you guys safe.” And with that he swiftly walked away, exiting through the tall doors of the Tavern without a word, the other 12 players who he would be fighting side by side with waiting patiently outside. “Ready Strider?” Meenah asked as she pushed herself off of the wall, her trident attached to her back, “Cause we’re about to go nose diving into the fiery pits of shell.” Dave nodded, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword as he walked forward, slight smirk gracing his lips.

“Then let’s do a fucking pirouette off the diving board and go down in style.” 

\--------------------------------

They were several floors into the dungeon, and so far it was easy as pie. The monsters were low level skeletons, with the odd wraith here and there, and for high level players like Meenah, Dave and the other’s, they were dust in the wind. They had entered it about an hour ago, the walls murky and dark, but the deeper they got, the more computerized it looked. They were now on what was presumably the lowest level, the walls looking like a circuit boards, cluing them in that they were close to the loot. Meenah ripped her trident from the ribcage of a fallen wraith, Dave just finishing slicing a skeleton in half. Meulin and Kurloz quickly signed to one another before Meulin turned to the others, who had just finished killing their targets, “KURLOZ THINKS WE’RE CLOSE TO THE TREASURE!!! HE THINKS IT’S DOWN THIS HALL!!!” She screeched, pointing down a tunnel to their right which opened up into a room. Latula peered around the corner, eyeing the room before shrugging, “L3t’s ch3ck 1t out. W3 h4v3n’t s33n 4ny s1gns of th3 tr34sur3 just y3t, m1ght 4s w3ll s34rch 3v3rywh3r3.” Mituna nodded, about to say something when Meenah pushed him and the other’s aside to walk down the hall towards the strange room. “I’m the bass around here, I say where we’re swimming. Follow me losers!” Everyone groaned, including Dave, all of them following closely behind the confidant Meenah. As soon as they entered the room, which was long and wide, they all spotted the large chest on the other side of the room, opposite the entrance. The chest was atop a small stage, surrounded by mounds of gold. Mituna and Latula cheered, hugging one another just like Kurloz and the laughing Meulin were. Porrim and Kankri each shared a comfidant smile, while Damara, Rufioh, and Horrus were discussing how they’d split the winnings. As everyone else stayed at the center of the room to celebrate Dave walked with Meenah and Cronus up to the chest, an uneasy feeling settling in his stomach. 

“Damn, this think is shella big.” Meenah grinned victoriously, Cronuss nudging her side, “You’re telling me! Go on and open it boss, you are our leader after all.” Meenah nodded, not taking her eyes off the chest as she grasped the lid, beginning to pull it up. However, just as a light began to glisten form inside, Dave felt that feeling of dread pool in his stomach, and he had a feeling this was a trap. He wrapped an arm around Meenah and Cronus, pulling them backwards with so much force they fell off the plate form onto the ground, Meenah’s arm’s flailing and lifting the lid the rest of the way. “What the ever lovin Glub Str-!” Meenah hissed out, sitting up on the floor and glaring at Dave. She was cut off though when a loud screech emanated from the open chest, the gold that surrounded it disappearing into a dark mist as high, HIGH level monsters began to appear from both the chest and the mist. “Crap-!” Dave said through gritted teeth as he jumped to his feet, quickly drawing his sword to block an oncoming attack. “RUN!” Meenah didn’t hesitate to do so, nor did Cronus, as they both ran back to their friends, who were all crowding around the entrance. “THE GLUBBING THING’S SEALED!” Meenah shouted back, an invisible barrier sealing off their exit. Dave kept blocking the attacks of the black scaled beast in front of him, trying his best to concentrate on him rather than the fact that they were fucking trapped! Suddenly a voice echoed through the room. It was Hal’s. “The only way out of this room is if you can defeat all 50 of these level 80 monsters!” “Hal you fuckin Liar!” Dave snarled, rushing to the side to avoid an attack by another creature with long claws. Meenah came rushing to Dave’s side, using her trident to inpale the long clawed creature, knocking it away from them. The other’s soon come to their aid as well, each of them drawing their weapons and attacking any monster they came close. This attack pattern worked for a while, but not for long. Kankri was the first to fall, his throat being ripped open by a walking nightmare with tentacles as arms and razor sharp teeth. You could practically hear the grin in Hal’s voice as he whispered, “Cross my heart…,” Meulin was slashed down the chest, exposing her ribcage as she feel to the ground with a shrill scream of agony. Kurloz had the most blood chilling look on his face as he clubbed the bastard who attacked her to death. “…I did lie…,” Horrus was grabbed by his pony tail, a gruesome skeletal demon lifting him into the air so that they were eye to eye. With one flick of the wrist Horruss was sent flying into Porrim, his neck broken and eyes dead. “…and right now…,” Areana rushed over to heal them, hoping to save them, yet she ran right into the line of fire, a giant, venomous spider pouncing on her, it’s fangs shredding her. The last statement that Hal said was full of glee, “And right now …you’re all going to die!”

Dave looked around, time feeling as it was slowing down for him as he saw Meulin’s body being cradled by Kurloz as he fought off other creatures, trying to protect Meulin even though it was clear she was gone. As he saw Damara and Rufioh fighting off monster’s while trying to help Porrim up from under their deceased friend. As he saw Meenah’s eyes tear up at the sight of Areana, Cronus also looking remorseful as he stabbed the spider to death with his daggers. There were still over 30 monsters, and they were dying, slowly and painfully. Dave remembered his last conversation with his friends, with John, Jade and Rose. He remembered how they were mad at him, and how he wanted to make it right. Something in him broke, something in him told him to fuck it, he was going to get his ass out of there and see his friends again if it’s the last thing he ever fuckin does.  
He was going to make things right, and kill these fuckers in the process. 

 

John was worried. Dave had left with those jerks to Hal ‘mystery dungeon’ or whatever over 4 hours ago, and he was starting to freak out. After the first few hours John had tried using pester chum to contact Dave, but when he didn’t respond after nearly an hour he began to spam him, asking him if he’s alright and what’s going on. That was about an hour ago, and since then Rose has been trying to calm him down. “I’m sure he is just caught up in the adventure,” Rose offered from across the table, her menu screen in front of her as she bought food for the Tavern, Kanaya gone to attend to her own worried friends, “don’t worry over him John, I’m sure he’s alright.” John rested his head on the table, his arm’s splayed out. “But what if he’s not Rose!” John sighed miserably, “What if he’s hurt? Or worse! I don’t want him thinking I’m still mad at him if he’s hurt and stuff!” Rose hummed, running a soothing hand through John’s hair, “He’s strong John, and he can take care of himself. I doubt that he is in harm’s way, especially with all of those skilled players with him.” John sighed deeply, knowing Rose was right. Dave was fine! He was probably on his way back right now! He probably had one heck of a story to tell John about why it took him so long and all the things they encountered! Jade, who had gone to grab some bread from a bakery down the street, slipped in next to John, who was opposite of Rose. “Hey guys, got some buns if you want some!” Buns… hehe, Dave would called him Egbuns sometimes. Even though it’s a stupid name, it’s a stupid name his best bro called him, and he missed it already. John groaned, his worry over Dave returning just as fast as it left. Jade frowned, pulling John into a tight squeeze, “Ooooooooh John! Turn the frown upside down!!! Dave wouldn’t leave us, don’t worry!” 

However, just as the words left her mouth, everyone’s pester logs alerted them to a live video. The recorder… Meenah. John quickly opened his up, Jade and Rose following suit. It was the scene through Meenah’s eyes. An awful, awful scene. Meenah was lying down on the ground, her health bar at the top of the screen slowly depleting due to the apparent gash in her abdomen. She was looking out, towards the body of her friends, Dave nowhere in sight, and the sounds of metal on flesh and bone emanating from a source off of the screen. Kurloz was bloody and propped up against the wall, his head hung, holding onto Meulin with a limp grasp. Mituna and Latula were laying side by side, Lautla with her head smashed and Mituna with no eyes and a lot of blood. Porrim was up high on the wall, blood splattered behind her like she was thrown into it, a large dark, claw/dagger holding her up. Kankri was close to the entrance, his throat torn open. Areana could been seen just at the top of Meenah’s vision, her close eyes and head making her look like she was asleep, but the blood oozing from her lips said otherwise. Damara’s severed head was the only part of her that was in view. Horuss was by the wall, his neck twisted in a disturbing way, Rufioh with bloody spikes sticking through him only a few feet away from the entrance. The mangled bodies and blood made John nearly vomit. Not only were the bodies of the players scattering the floor, but also the bodies of monsters, many of them with giant, rough gashes and severed limbs. “Hey guppies, I hope to cod this is reeling to everyone,” Meenah began, her voice weak, yet it still held that slightly confidant tone, “We ain’t doin to well here, so I thought I’d at least shore ya what happened to us.” She sighed, “We we’re fucking fools. There was not booty or loot or anything, it was a beachin trap! Shell ow-,” Meenah turned to prop herself up on her side, giving a wider view of the room, as well as the huge hold in her gut. John now saw Dave, and holy shit, was he moving fast. He was dashing around several monsters, dodging their hits and attacks for the most part, though John saw him get stabbed in the arm and leg by large claws. But even when he was hit, Dave never let up, that creature who stabbed him soon losing its head and leaving a bloody mess. John noticed that Dave was hurt, BAD, with the large holes in his armour and torn skin where blood was pouring out. He felt his chest tighten at the sight, Dave’s HP bar in the dangerous zone.

Meenah looked away and brought her hand up to the wound on her stomach, cringing slightly at her own touch, “Dam, I betta me this quick since I’m dying and Strider’s a slashin. Feferi, ma awesome sis, I’m sorry I’m gonna be leaving ya. I know I’m a beach to you sometimes, and I know I might not have been the best sister ever, but I wanted to let you know I love ya sis.” John could hear a faint cry starting up by the large tables, and when he peered over he saw one of Kanaya’s friends (presumably Feferi) starting to sob and shake uncontrollably as she stared at the screen, her eye’s unable to look away. Meenah’s health began to dwindle below 10 HP, and so she laid down comfortably, her vision now directly on Dave and his battle. Another monster was down, but Dave’s left arm was limp with a lot of blood dripping down it. Thankfully he was able to swing with his right hand, his sword coming into contact was a creature’s throat, causing it to scream out in pain. There were still 3 more creature’s going after him, all of which were relentless in their attacks. Meenah sighed, her vision starting to go black, “By Feferi, I glub ya. And Strider…,” She closed her eyes slowly, the last image of Dave John saw before her eyes shut completely was him leaping up into the air, sword positioned high above his head, the awful being that Dave was targeting swinging it’s giant claws towards him. As darkness covered the screen, a loud, inhuman screech, as well as a pained cry, echoed through the room. Meenah’s health depleted completely as she breathed out, “Good luck Bouy…”

The video then cut off, disappearing from the screen, and with it the last glimpse of Dave. The Tavern dead silent, the only exception being for the hiccups and sobs coming from Kanaya and her friends at the corner of the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry Beforus trolls!!! D: 
> 
> P.S. Hal's full rhyme thing goes like this: 
> 
> "I cross my heart, hope to die, survive my game, or you'll die!"  
> "Cross my heart, I did lie, and right now, you're all going to die!"


	8. "Sup"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Read to find out what happens :P

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! I'm sorry this is a few days late, but I did TECHNICALLY update within a week (after updating URWABBE), so that's good. I also wanted to give everyone a heads up that during the summer I won't have access to a computer or the internet, so I won't be able to write, meaning that I won't be able to update for awhile UmU (I'm going to a summer camp). That being said I highly doubt both of my Fanfics will end before then, so they most likely will continue into fall. I just wanted to give you guys a heads up about that. 
> 
> Onto a totally different subject, has anyone drawn any fanart for KCO? I personally LOVE to draw and I would love to see if any of you guys drew any pictures relating to this 0w0 If you guys did leave a link to the picture in the comments and I'll be sure to check it out and leave a link to it in my next update ^w^
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!!!!

“Johnathan Egbert stop what you are doing and listen to me!” 

Rose yelled at John, who was currently scurrying around the “Beta Kids” main guild room, grabbing his bag off a rack and running into the supply room. Rose followed him in, standing crossed armed at John, who was collecting potions and other supplies and storing them in his small satchel. John stop in his tracks at Rose’s stern and strained words, turning to her with a heartbroken expression of his own. “But I CAN’T Rose! Dave’s out there and he’s HURT! I got to go after him! I know it’s really stupid and he was a dumbass to go without us but he’s our friend, hell he’s our dumbass, and I’m not about to let him die!” With that he turned around and counted his supplies, Rose staying oddly quiet. “Hmm let’s see….” John mumbled as he began to quickly check his inventory, do I have everything? Better to be over prepared than under! Hmm… Three mega healing potions, 7 mana, 1 stamina, 35 tarts, 3 pies, 5 goat cheese wheels, 50 apples, a frickin ton of gauze, a medi-pack, and a healing medallion... “Welp, everything’s accounted for,” John said as he turned away from a large barrel towards Rose, “I guess all I have to do now is track Dave down…” 

John marched past the Seer, through the door way and headed for the stairs to the tavern. Said Seer let out an exasperated sigh. “That’s it John, you don’t know where to even begin looking for David!” Rose rubbed her temples, following John towards the stairs, “I know you’re worried about him, but you can’t just go run off and not have a plan.” John looked over his shoulder with a scowl, “I DO have a plan, and what I PLAN on doing is finding Dave, healing him, and never letting that douche Hal near him again!” “John that is a horrible plan!” Rose frowned back, obviously not pleased with his plan. John stomped down the stairs, calling (yelling angrily) over his shoulder, “WELL AT LEAST ITS A PLAN!!!” Screw her, he knows what he’s doing! He’s going to find Dave and save him like best bros do! He still remembers when Dave comforted him after he had a little break down, and he really doesn’t think he’ll be able to survive the game without Dave… John pushed open the doors to the tavern, his stomping lessening the closer he got to the door, the weight of the entire situation beginning to crush him. Dave is hurt, possibly dead, in a dungeon with a special, unknown location, full of monsters. He is at the Tavern, barely enough supplies to help him survive a fight (most of their supplies were given to new players to help them survive) and he knew shit all about Dave’s whereabouts. Yeah, Rose is right… his plan in crap. 

Then the memory of their last conversation struck him.

John stopped walking, stopped moving, stopped breathing, inches away from the grand doors which lead to the town outside. He remembered how mad he had been at Dave, and, oh god, Dave must have known how upset he was with him. Oh fuck, what if that’s the last talk he’d ever have with Dave??? What if Dave dies thinking HE HATED HIM???!!!! A surge of guilt, sadness and worry washed over John, causing him to grip his hands at his sides in a tight fist, tears threatening to pour down his cheeks. John stood like this for a few moments, ignoring the stares from the surrounding players as he took in the fact that Dave, his best friend (bro) may have just died thinking he hated him. “Dave….” John subconsciously whispered, his head beginning to pound and his body trembling. He heard a distant shout of his name through his inner turmoil, his senses soon coming back to earth. Wait, when did I kneel on the floor? He thought as he looked around through blurry eyes and glasses, spotting his friends mimicking his position, and when did Rose and Jade start hugging me? And why was it suddenly so hard to see and brea- I’m crying aren’t I? The soft, sad hiccup which shook John’s body answered his question. Shit. 

“John Oh my god! Are you ok??! Can you hear me?” Jade said worriedly as she unwrapped her arms from around him, only to grab him by the shoulders a moment later to make him look her in the eyes. John nodded solemnly, his sobs subsiding gradually. “You had me so worried!” Jade said with a hurt expression on her face, “You had me so, so worried, John. One second you’re marching down here from upstairs looking all proud and stuff, apparently going to save Dave, even though that’s REALLY stupid to do alone, with Rose running after you and calling your name. Then next you collapsed to your knees when you were about to open the door and began sobbing out of the blue!” John looked over to Rose, who gave him a questioning but sad look. “I-I broke down?” He offered, trying to figure out why he combustied into tears. Rose nodded, rubbing his back as the last of the tears fell from his eyes. “Yes, you did. However I wish to know… why?” She said, looking at John with more of a concerned than “I-want-to-psycho-analyze-you” look. 

John sighed, standing on slightly wobbly legs, the girls following suit. John looked around the Tavern, most of the players looking at him with understanding expression (except Kanaya and her friends, who were still thoroughly upset. The Indigo eyed girl John had been talking to earlier, who was named Vriska, looked ready to rip someone’s throat out as she clutched her hand in fist on the table). “It’s the last conversation we had with Dave…” John began in a meek voice, “We were mad at him… and I’m… I’m just worried that h-he… he died thinking that hated him.” John voice was barely above a whisper as the last few words were choked out of him. Jade let out a small whimper, her bright green eyes beginning to gloss over with tears. Rose looked down mournfully, all of them standing in silence. John wasn’t going to just sit around and do nothing and mope and stuff. He was going to do something, ANYTHING, and he knew what he was going to do. 

John looked out in front of him, at the large chocolate oak doors which lead to the town outside. “We’re going to save Dave.” He spoke, voice unwavering at Rose’s head shot up and Jade looked at him confusedly. “But we don’t know where he even is….” Jade whimpered, Rose quickly adding, “Nor do we even have an actually formulated plan.” John took a step forward, taking hold of the brass doorknobs. He peered over his shoulder at his two other best friends, giving them a small smile to reassure them. “I know we don’t have a plan, and that we don’t know where he is, but the fact that we want to try, that we WILL try to find him, to help him, has to count for something doesn’t it?” Rose’s stern gaze soften dramatically and Jade’s confused expression brightened. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure it does!” Jade quipped in to help brighten the mood. Jade eagerly took a step forward to stand beside John, both raven haired teens turning back to the blonde. Rose sighed, a small smile creeping over her face. “Considering you two will be venturing out to find David whether I agree to go or not, I suppose arguing is futile.” Rose took a step forward as well, standing beside John. “Or in simpler terms, count me in.” Jade and John cheered, glad to have her on board (if John was being honest, Rose was probably the only one who could even POSSIBLY figure out where that stupid, stupid dungeon is). “Awesome!” John grinned as he turned the doorknobs and began to open the large doors, “That’s the spirit! We’ll find Dave in n-,” 

John ceased all movement, his grip on the doorknobs tightening as he stared into those bright, ruby eyes through broken shades. Dave was using his long sword as a crutch, leaning heavily from the left. He was gripping his abdomen with his right hand, which was pouring pools of crimson down his side. His armour was torn, shattered, and ripped apart. His skin was bruised, shredded, and gruesomely pale. His hair was tussled and full of blood. His health bar was at 1 HP.  
Dave’s expression was stoic and flat, though his burning eyes told just how much pain he was in, and how scared shitless he truly was.

“-o time…” John finished quietly, his blue eyes wide behind his glasses, the girl’s expression of disbelief mimicking his. “Dave.” Was the only word that came out of John’s mouth as he slowly let go of the door handles and took half a step towards Dave, who appeared frozen in place. 

“Sup.” 

That was Dave’s reply before his eyes looked to the sky, his body going limp as he fell forward, collapsing into John’s shaky arms.

 

================================

 

Sup.

Really Strider? After kicking those fucking monsters asses and watching the bodies of your friends turn into pixels, after trudging through that stupid dungeon back to the surface, after saying you were going to fix fucking everything with your friends, who were probably scared the fuck shitless, and walking all the way to town (which is a good several miles thank you very much), after staring your best bro in the eyes, with the possibility of redemption at your fingertips, after all that fucking shit, all you managed was a single “Sup.”???? 

Yep, it’s official, he’s the embodiment of success. And by Success he means screwing shit up worse than it already is and fixing nothing.

However that’s not what has his full attention at the moment. At the moment it’s the burning pain and fear. Everything hurts, especially his abdomen, which was torn open by some dick head monster (he can’t remember which one, everything about the dungeon is blurry except for the faces of the people he let down). His head is pounding, but if he’s being honest, he’s feeling slightly better than before, a warm sensation, which is also oddly cool at the same time, is washing over him, the pain being washed away painfully (horrible Pun Dave) slow. That soothing feeling soon washed out all the pain, but sadly left closely behind it, leaving Dave nothing but exhausted.

He didn’t open his eyes since he uncooly passed out in front of John, nor did he know how long he had been passed out when he finally started coming to his senses. His eye’s slowly fluttered open, a golden light drifting into the large room through the large window to his left (his bed on the right side of the room), the curtain to the other side of the room, and to the door, drawn closed. Dave groaned, he was dead, the holy fucking light filtering through that large ass window, which is very painful to look at, tells him he probably went to hell and became some sort of demon and his punishment for all eternity is to have light shined in his eyes. Fantastic. 

However his theory was proven wrong when he turned his head to the side, eyeing the blue quilted bed opposite of him, a figure in orange and gold propped up against the soft pillows at the head of the bed, reading a book. At the sound of sheet’s shifting as he turned on his side the violet eyes slowly looked up to the side, locking with his own for only a moment before returning to her book. “David” Rose said calmly, turning the page of her book as if nothing was wrong and he didn’t nearly fucking die cause he’s an idiot. “Lalonde” was Dave’s response, his face slightly contorted as his side began to burn from laying on his side. He quickly found himself laying on his back, staring up at the ceiling in comfortable, yet heavy, silence. “Sooooo…,” Dave began, staring up at the faint, golden yellow ceiling as if it was the most interesting thing in the world, “… How long have I been out?” Without missing a beat Rose hummed, “About 5 hours. John really poured a lot of magic into healing you up to your full capacity, nothing which I thought we would be able to do due to your high HP level. He was left greatly fatigued, and the only way he managed to bring your HP up all the way was to pour HP from himself, Jade, and me into you, ignoring your wounds. After that John chose to “crash” on the nearest bed when Jade and I carried you up here, said bed happening to be my own.” Dave could hear the amused smile in Rose’s voice. “Jade patched you up, and soon took to making sure no one ‘freaked out’ downstairs. And since I am no people person, John is passed out, and you are still injured, I took to watching over you.” 

Dave nodded, an amazing feat considering how much pain he’s in. This was all his fault though, so he guess he sort of asked for it? But he didn’t mean to put his friends in harm’s way and, like, make them save his ass. Dave turned his head even though it hurt, staring at Rose with a slight, hopeful smile, “So does this mean you guys don’t hate me?” Rose sighed, placing a book mark in her book and turning to face Dave, her expression neutral. “Dave, we do not hate you,” She began, rising from the bed and beginning to take a few paces towards him, “We were, as a matter of fact, concerned and worried about you,” Another step forward, voice rising, “We were MAD at you for leaving us in the blue to watch a video of Meenah saying her last goodbyes to her sister-,” Wait, what did Meenah do??? “-with you fighting some sort of fucked up demon!” Oh shit, Rose swore, he’s so fucked. She was now at the side of his bed, arms crossed and book in hand, her expression crossed between upset and pissed. “So no, David, we do not HATE you. We, as a matter of fact, CARE for your well-being and are just mad that you went out and did something as stupid as run into one of Hal’s obvious traps!” Rose sighed after her anger dissipated, sinking down onto the foot of the bed. Dave forced himself to sit upright, hanging his head as a long silence fell over them. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, breaking the silence, “I’m so, so fucking sorry Rose. I fucked up. I fucked up so badly.” Dave was doing his best to push the images of Meenah being cut open and then left for dead, of everyone being killed, out of his head. The images, which only flashed across his mind for a second, sent an involuntary shiver to pass through him, making him antsy and on the verge of tears. Rose must have picked up on this, because even though he wasn’t looking at her, he felt the weight on the bed shift, Rose moving closer towards him until she was able to wrap her arms around his broad shoulders. “It’s ok Dave… It’s ok…” She cooed, trying to calm down the hyperventilating Dave, “You’re safe, you are ok… You’re ok.” Dave held back a sob, shifting so that he can hug Rose back without hurting his injured side. “Rose,” Dave said into her shoulder, receiving only a hum in response before he continued, “Your motherhood is showing.” Dave could FEEL just how hard Rose rolled her eyes, letting out a quiet chuckle, “Is that what you call this? Me turning into mother?” Dave shrugged, letting go of Rose after a few moments, “Well yeah, you’re all like protective, encouraging and comforting and shit. You’re like, a prodigy in mother instincts. Mother Nature’s giving you a scholarship to Mother Hen University where you acing all her courses and she’s all like ‘damn, you go gurl’ or some shit like that.” 

Man, he hates when he rambles like an idiot. But he’s quite pleased with himself when that draws out a long laugh from Rose. “Glad to know I’m acing Mother Nature’s classes, I would be highly concerned if I wasn’t.” She mused, giving Dave a small smile, one which he quickly returned. Dave was about to say some other stupid shit about Mother Nature and school and all that when he looked closer at the book which was laying neatly beside Rose’s lap. The book had a dark leather cover with a dark magenta stone heart in the center and looked pretty thick. Rose looked like she had quite of a few chapters under belt already if the black book mark was anything to go by. Dave cocked his brow at the interesting book. “Yo, Lalonde, I know this is totally off topic but I have a question. What’s that book about?”

Rose looked a bit surprised, looking down at the book she discarded beside herself, picking it up and eyeing it with amusement. “Oh this? David, I didn’t know you were into literature, you could have fooled me!” She said with mock shock. Damn her. He rolled his eyes, smirking, “I can fool anyone. Even myself at times, so this is no surprise.” Rose smiled, looking down at the book and quickly flipping through the pages. “Hmmm yes that’s very true. And to answer your question David, this book is about how the magic world mingled with the moral one, creating creatures known as Half-bloods which fit in with neither Race. It’s about a young man with raven hair, who wields powerful magic, joins forces with a blonde, half-blood knight, to save the world from a treacherous being known as Lord English, their families and Friends at their side.” Rose paused, smiling wider. “However that isn’t the only problem they have to come over. And love will always prevail.” Dave makes a stoic face as he says in a monotone voice, “its gay fan fiction isn’t it.” “No it is not!” She shook her head, a large smile on her face as she peered down at the book, “It’s actually a book written by an author who goes by the name R.A.” Dave looked at the book curiously, his voice quieter than normal, “What’s the title of the book…?” He asked cautiously. Rose smiled, looking at the books cover.  
“Upon Ruby Wings and Bright Blue Eyes.”

Dave nodded, quietly contemplating a decision which could turn out ok or embarrassing. Fuck it. “Could you, uh, shit, um…,” He began with all the grace in the universe, “Shit…How do I say this without sounding like a fuckin five year old? Ugggggh……Rose, can you like, read a bit of it to me or whatever so I’m not bored shitless?” 

“Are you asking if I would read you a bedtime story?” She mused. Dave wanted to whip that amused smirk right off her even smugger face.  
“Well no, not technically… I’m not going to sleep so it’s not a fucking bedtime story!” He huffed out, his face heating up from embarrassment. Rose sighed softly, patting the space next to her which was previously occupied by the book, which was now in her hands. Dave smiled lightly, scouting over towards Rose and draping his legs off the side of the bed, careful of his injuries. He wrapped his blanket over Rose’s shoulders too cause like hell he was going to let her not get in on this awesome super comfy blanket shit. Dave leaned on her side and rested his head on her shoulder, Rose not seeming phased in the slightest as she opened the book to its first page, drawing a deep breath before she spoke, a smile in her voice. 

“Upon Ruby Wings and Bright Blue Eyes, By R.A….

Ahem…

He was running for his life through the woods….”

Dave continued to listen to her soft exclamations and calming tone for a solid 10 minutes. However the pain and exhaustion were still weighing heavily on him, and he soon found his eyes fluttering closed, Rose’s voice being the only thing that reached him through the abyss of comfortable sleep. 

That is, until the nightmare started.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm such cliffhanger trash
> 
> I'm also thinking Dave's going to have PTSD after what he's been through. I'M SO SORRY DAVE 0M0 YOUR A LITTLE CINNAMON ROLL WITH A SWORD YOU'LL BE OK HANG IN THERE BRO.
> 
> (P.S. I think Dave's and Rose's friendship is so sweet and adorable ^w^)  
> (If you guys have any fanart feel free to post links to it in the comments!)


	9. Beta Trolls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dave wakes up again, gay jokes ensue, and then Vriska crashes the party. (Also poor Dave ;m;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!! Ok, so some people told me my long paragraph format was hard to read, so they suggested I break it up whenever someone new is speaking. So this chapters format is different than the previous ones, just a heads up! Tell me if you guys like this format better or the old one in the comments! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! ^w^

It was several hours before Dave awoke again, startled awake by the gruesome images of Meenah and the others, strewn out in front of him, broken and dead. He was sweating, shaking, and personally, freaking the fuck out. He brought his hands up and rubbed at his eyes hard, trying to remove the images that seem haunt him. He groaned, sitting up slowly due to his injures, removing his hands from his eyes to place them behind himself on the bed for support (though he was still shaking pretty badly). He glanced around and found himself alone, the book Rose had read to him sitting on John’s bed across the room. He noticed the light filtering in through the large window was very bright and determined he slept through until the next day when he found his stomach growling loudly. 

“Shit, I’m fucking starving…” Dave sighed shakily, looking down at his injures to determine whether or not he should mosey on down to the bar and fix himself up some grub. He winced at the memory his wounds suddenly brought, and quickly looked away. He moved so he was seated with his legs hanging off of the side of bed, ready to stand and go eat. Thankfully, before he could attempt his horribly thought out plan of standing, there was a soft creek from the door on the other side of the curtain (which separated the girls and boys side of the room). Not a second later the curtain was being pushed back, revealing a relieved John and a tray full of delicious food. 

“Holy shit, dude, get your scrawny ass over here right the fuck now and give me some of that sweet food. I’m fucking starving.” Dave demanded, pointing to the spot beside himself on his bed. John’s small, relieved smile soon turned into a wide grin as he hurried over to the starving Dave. 

“Hey, whose ass are you calling scrawny? I’m pretty sure mine is bigger than yours!” John laughed, sitting down beside Dave and handing him over the bowl of fresh, chicken noodle soup, crackers, different fruits (mainly apples and oranges), two cinnamon buns and toast with a side of fresh Apple juice (hell fucking yes!). 

“Yeah, Yeah Egbert,…*slurp* so you have a fine ass,… *slurp* big deal. Mine still has everyone swooning,” Dave pointed out through mouthfuls of soup. John scoffed, waiting until Dave finished the soup before bringing him into a head lock and messing up his already untidy hair. 

“Well your butt may have everyone ‘swooning’, but I can tell you know that your hair sure as heck won’t!” He giggled, eventually letting go of the trashing Dave. 

“Awww dude, so not cool.” Dave pouted with a hint of a smile as he fixed his dishevelled hair. John smiled at his and poked him on the chest. 

“You know what’s not cool? You! Hehe!” Dave smirked at John, setting the tray aside on the nightstand before revenging his honour. 

Dave lunged at the laughing john before he could react, the other boy yelping as he feel backwards onto the bed. Dave quickly maneuvered John around before he could get his bearings so that he was flat on his stomach, his arm twisted behind his back by Dave, who was kneeling next to him on the bed. “Say uncle.” Dave said, grinning down at the annoyed John. 

“Shouldn’t you be, like, injured and unable to move?” John mumbled, glaring behind himself at Dave. The blonde nodded, peering down at the bandages around his abdomen.

“Yeaaaaah, holding you like this is sort of killing me, but you insulted my coolness, and now you will pay John.” “Oh my goooooooood.” John groaned as he stuffed his face into the sheets, “You are such an idiot.”

“Takes one to know one dude.” 

When Dave finally let go (after John started to look like a kicked puppy), John turned around and glared at Dave, who had placed the tray back on his own lap so John couldn’t exact his revenge. “Asshole.” John frowned, earning a smirk from Dave. 

“Love you too, honey bun.” He said, handing John one of the cinnamon rolls with a growing smirk. John took the treat eagerly, his frown letting up into a small smile and a chuckle. “Dave, there aren’t even Honey buns! Nice try though.” 

Dave smiled, “It’s Irony John, you wouldn’t understand.” “Dave, it is not irony. It’s you being a dork.” John countered happily before eating the small bun. Dave followed suit, both of them eating the delicious buns in a comfortable silence. That is, until Dave decided to stand up and fall backwards onto the bed before he was even at his full height. 

“Whoa, whoa, Dave, What the hell?? Why are you trying to stand?” John quickly checked Dave, probably to see if he was ok, which he certainly was not. 

“I’m trying to stand to get my ass downstairs and see what you guys have been up to since I’ve been gone or out cold.” He said, gripping the bed post in an attempt to steady himself when he goes to stand again. Thankfully he didn’t need the post all that much, as his bro John has his back. 

When Dave went to stand again, John was standing up at the same time, wrapping his arm around Dave’s waist and propping Dave’s arm on his shoulder. “Geez, you could have just asked me what’s been going on instead.”

“Nah, I also want to stretch my legs. It feels like I’ve been out for a fucking million years or some shit.” Dave sighed, moving slowly with John past the curtain splitting the room up and through the door, out into the main guild room.   
“It hasn’t been THAT long since you came back all…” John trailed off quietly, holding Dave closer to his side. Dave frown, his eyes going wide as he began to panic. Shit, Shit, Shit, he forgot that his near death experience was probably a lot harder on John and the others since they had to see him nearly bit the dust. (He knows this because seeing everyone else around him bite the dust was pretty fucking horrific, so he thinks he knows how upset John is). “It’s been maybe… 4 days?”

What.

“What?” Dave gaped, stopping in his tracks so fast John nearly lost his balance, both of them stopping Just before the stairs leading down to the tavern. “How was I out for 4 days??? I thought it was only, like, 2!” 

“Uh, haha, yeah, no, you were out for days.” John said, opening the door to the stairs, where he and Dave began to descend towards the tavern. “You woke up nearly a day after you came back, while Rose was on watch over you. She later told us that you had woke up but then fell asleep again. So then we waited for you to wake up again fully, but that didn’t happen until, well, just a little while ago! Most of the time you were mumbling in your sleep and tossing and turning.”

Once they reached the bottom of the stairs and exited the hall to the main area of the tavern, both boys were engulfed in a large hug, by none other than Jade Harley. “Oh my god, you’re awake!” She exclaimed, hugging them both tighter, “I thought you’d never wake up! You know how worried I was?”

Jade pulled back, pointing a finger scolding at Dave. “Bad Dave. Bad. Dave. No more adventures for you!” 

“Harley, I’m not a fucking puppy who peed on a carpet,” Dave said, rolling his eyes before smiling widely, “and yeah, I’m glad to see you too Jade.”

John snickered beside Dave, looking between him and Jade before grinning. “Of course you’re not a puppy who peed on a carpet Dave! You’re a bitch who peed on a carpet! Hahaha-oof!”

John got a good punch in the ribs for that one.

Jade started to giggle loudly at both of them, smiling widely as she clasped her hands together happily. “Awww, you two are so cute together!!!” Oh heeeeeeeeeell no. 

Both John and Dave stopped laughing, each of their faces heating up. “JADE!” John shrieked, “YOU DON’T SAY THAT KIND OF STUFF!!” 

“Yeah Harley, you got to make it more subtle if anything.” Dave said, trying to play off his embarrassment, which earned him a rough elbowing from John. Ouch, just trying to lighten the mood, geez.

Jade pouted, crossing her arms and turning to head back to the bar counter, where Rose was chatting with some younger players, “You two are no fun!”

 

John and Dave awkwardly shuffled over to the bar with Jade, John setting Dave down on a barstool before letting go of him to sit on a neighboring stool. Rose glanced over at the trio before dismissing herself from the conversation with the two younger players. As she walked towards them she picked up a pitcher with a menu floating over it, which read “Coffee”, and a 3 mugs. 

“Hello David, I’m glad to see that you’re awake again.” Rose smiled kindly, setting one mug in front of each of them and pouring warm coffee into each before she let out a breathy laugh. “I must say, I was worried that I had bored you to death after you first awoke after your return.” 

Dave smirked at the soft laughing Rose, taking a sip out of the wooden mug in front of him. “Nah Lalonde, you’re not THAT boring. And besides, that book you began reading me was pretty cool with dragons and shit.” 

Rose smiled, quirking a brow at Dave. “Oh, so you do recall the book? I had thought you passed out before the first chapter came to an end.” 

Dave shook his head and grinned, “Nope, I didn’t pass out till the SECOND chapter. Geez Rose, I thought you were more observant that that.” The last line was said in an amused tone as the two raven haired kids beside Dave began to giggle under their breaths. Man, he sure missed these dorks.

Rose’s smile widen, “Why coloured me surprised then, Strider.”

“I would… but I don’t have a rainbow marker. Sorry Rose, maybe another time.” Dave chimed in, smiling proudly when the giggling next to him grew to full bouts of laughter. 

Rose smiled coyly, tapping her finger against her chin as if in idle thought, “But David, if I recall correctly, you have a whole rainbow marker set in the closet.” John just fell off his chair and hit the floor with a thud. Good, serves him right for laughing so hard at that.

“What can I say, a dude has to be prepared for anything, including a colouring book apocalypse.” Dave retorted nonchalantly, taking another sip of his coffee as Rose turned around and began to make herself tea.

“Oh, is that so? Well maybe you should take it out of the closet in case anything important such as ‘a colouring book apocalypse’ should ever occur.” Rose said, turning to face the group with a small white and gold tea cup full of berry tea.

“Sorry Lalonde, that isn’t going to happen anytime soon. It’s so far in the closet that one time I went looking for it and bam! I landed in Narnia. That was some crazy shit right there.” Dave said with a wide smile, one returned by Rose as John and Jade filled the room with laughter, both blondes soon joining in. They may had been getting a few stares from around the tavern, but if Dave was being honest, he really didn’t fucking care. This was great. He needed this, more than he would like to admit. Sadly, this moment of bliss just had to end.

And it ended abruptly with the large, dark doors of the tavern shooting open, a frantic, footsteps rushing towards the laughing teens. 

Rose was the first to stop laughing, glancing over Dave’s shoulder towards the loud clicking of heels, her expression shifting from confusion to worry. Dave didn’t really notice the change in mood until he was lending the snicker John a hand to help him up from the floor. Just as John was picking himself up Dave saw him glance at Rose, then out towards the doors, his laughing stopping quite quickly. It was then Dave also noticed the absence of Jade high pitched giggles, and it was then he let go of the standing John’s hand and turned around, looking towards the cause of the concerned looks. 

Dave nearly had a heart attack. Scratch that. He did. 

Fuck, fuck, fuck, why did they have to be related? Fucking hell.

Before him stood a frantic looking Kanaya, who had weaved through the mass of tables to reach the bar. Now that Dave had a better look, she looked so much like Porrim. Too much like her, and it was messing with his head.

Dave bite the inside of his cheek as his jaw clenched, trying to distract himself from the thoughts that tried to reach his conscious. Kanaya even had that worried look Porrim wore when they found themselves trapped in that slaughter house of a dungeon.   
“Kanaya, what’s wrong?” Rose asked, her voice dripping with worry and concern as she quickly exited from behind the counter and approached the shaking Kanaya.

“I’m Sorry Rose,” Kanaya said quickly, looking behind herself and then back to Rose with wide, rich Jade eyes, “But I Thought It Would Be Best If I Warned You All Before They Got Here.”   
“Warned us? About what?” John asked, shifting his weight from one foot to the next anxiously as the air continued to grow tense.

“I Don’t Have Long To Explain,” Kanaya looked over to John with an apologetic smile before she looked at Dave and then to Rose with a pleading look, “But All I Can Tell You Is Get Dave Away From Here Before-!”   
The doors slammed open once more, only this time it was harsher, crueler, and angrier. 

“STR88888888D8ER!!”

Shit.

Kanaya stopped mid-sentence, all five of them turning towards the fully open doors where 11 other people stood and- shit, those are the other’s siblings. Shit, he’s shaking. Calm the fuck down Strider, you’re fine, you’re saf-  
“WH8R8 THE F8CK IS DAVE STR8DER????!!!!”

Ooooookay, maybe you’re not as safe as you thought. Shit Dave, your luck is either the best or worst in the world, and at the moment, it’s getting harder and harder to tell which it is. 

“Before She Gets Here…” Kanaya whispered, trailing off shamefully as she walked towards the others with her head hung, leaving the 4 of them in confusion. The Girl who was shouting for him (He thinks her names Vriska, though he didn’t really know) eyed Kanaya as she walked towards them, sneering at the poor girl as she passed her and went towards a short kid (Karkles by the looks of it) and a girl who looked way too much like Meenah. Vriska’s eyes shot up from the shameful Kanaya towards the group of four, scanning it over quickly before her fierce, cold gaze landed on the paralysed Dave. 

“Y8u…” She spat, walking sharply towards Dave, his only protection being the rows of tables which would slow her movements, “Y8u are a f8cking D8SGRACE!” The tables, however, did not slow her movements at all as she jumped up, landing effortlessly on a table without losing her balance, staring Dave down from across the room. She began to slowly, ever so slowly, walk towards them over the tables, where many plays sat in shock and fear. 

“Y8u know, I h8d been wondering how the h8ll som8one like y8u could have survived that dung8on and get all the w8y back here w8thout dying. 8nd you know what my good fr8end Terezi found about you?” Vriska scowled, halting about the middle of the room and nodding back towards a girl with red shades, who was giving a slight, disapproving frown (to Vriska or you, you can’t really tell). The indigo eyed girl pointed sharply at him, her face showing pure anger as she growled, “You are a fucking Beta Tester!”   
All eyes were on Dave now, and he felt his throat closing up, everyone staring him down with either disapproving or more shocked looks. It felt just like the first time he met Rose and Jade in the game, when Rose punched him and questioned him about his bro.  
“Yeah, and so what if he is?!” John shouted, his voice ringing next to Dave before he was in front of him in a protecting manner, “I’m pretty sure there are a lot of beta testers stuck in this hell hole! Why are you just picking on him?!” John had such a good save Dave thinks he could kiss that dorky face of his.

Vriska narrowed her eyes, lowering her hand before storming towards them while shouting, “8’M PICK8NG ON HIM BECAUSE NOT 8NLY IS HE A B8TA T8STER, BUT HIS BROTHER MADE THIS FUCKED UP GAM8!! HIS BROTHER WAS FRIENDS WITH THE PHYCO WHO 8S PLAYING US LIKE PUPPETS!!!!!!!! HE L8T ALL OF OUT SIBLINGS FUCKING DIE, AND I, FOR ONE, WOULD LIKE TO KN8W H8W THE F8CK COULD HE SURV8VE THAT W8THOUT BEING IN CAHOOTS W8TH AR!” 

Dave didn’t register that she had jumped off the last table separating them and pushed past John until she had him by the collar of his shirt, raising him to his feet harshly and yelling straight into his face. “YOU L8T TH8M 8LL D8E!!!!!!!!!! YOU L8T MY SIST8R DIE! YOU’RE A COWARD, AND I P8RSONALLY THINK YOU’RE A SCUMB8G TRA8TOR! HOW DO8S IT F88L STR8DER KNOWING YOU L8T ALL OF OUR SIBLINGS DIE?! HOW DO8S IT FEEL TO KNOW YOU HAV8 BLOOD ON YOUR TRA8TOROUS HANDS?!!!! YOU’R8 NO BETT8R THAN H8L!!!!!!!!” 

Dave was shaking involuntarily, the yelling, the jerking about, all of it brought the memories he had been trying so hard to hide to the surface. All he could see was Areana standing before him with two large holes in her abdomen, shouting at him and telling him how he let them down, and how, because of his cowardliness, they died. She was right, he was a coward, and because of him they all died. “I’m sorry,” He said quietly, his voice shaky and barely audible above the shouts, “I’m sorry Areana…”

For that he earned a punch to the gut, one so hard that he doubled over, Vriska letting go of his collar as he dropped to the floor in pain, tears pricking at the corners of his eyes as he looked up towards her. Rose and John were now standing in front of him defensively, Jade hugging him around the shoulders, though he could barely feel it through the pain radiating through his abdomen, the bandages which were healing his wounds now soaked with fresh blood from reopened gashes. 

Vriska scoffed at the sight, glaring at the two in front of Dave before looking down at him between the two. “Pathet8c.” She spat, turning on her heels and walking proudly towards Kanaya and the other people at the other end of the tavern, all of which looked guilty or sorry (especially Kanaya who was giving them a sorrow filled look). John quickly grabbed Rose around the waist as she went to lunge for Vriska, her hands clawing at John’s hold, her vibrant purple eyes absolutely BURNING with rage (Though the look John was giving Vriska was just as intense). The room was tense and silent save for the clicking of Vriska’s shoes and Rose’s attempts to break free of John’s grasp. 

Vriska took her time winding around the tables to the other 11 people, giving them all pointed looks as she reached them. She turned back towards the back of the tavern, crossing her arms and smirking at everyone.  
“And S88ing as how y8u are a tra8tor, str8der, and cons8der8ng how these 8d8ots can’t see th8t, I have P8RSONALLY made a guild of my own.” Vriska grinned, spreading her arms to motion to the others behind her, “Th8s8 p8ople were smart enough to jo8n me after you came back! Sollux over h8r8 helped me dig up the informat8on on you! He m8y be scrawny but he’s pr8tty smart, 8’ll give that n8rd that.” The boy who looked a lot like Mituna with neater hair looked like he was about to speak up before he held his tongue, probably knowing if he said anything Vriska would shot him down (considering how much of a bitch she is at the moment). 

“Our Gu8ld’s n8me is call8d the Beta Trolls! Our symb8l is a purpl8, t- shaped hous8, and our slog8n is ‘Fight for rev8nge, Fight for fr88dom!” Vriska raised her arm in the air and pointing to the sky, “And who8v8r wants to jo8n our gu8ld is welcom8! And I know, for on8, would h8 be8ng in the presence of a scumb8g like Str8der for a moment longer! Our meeting spot is the old town hall, m88t us there 8f you want to jo8n.” Vriska turned around to the others, waving her pointer finger around in the air in a circular pattern. “Ok8y dw88bs, t8me to move out!” 

With that Vriska pushed pasted a kid with a Mohawk and orangey-brown eyes and a smaller girl with pure green eyes and a furry blue cat hat (like Jade’s wolf hat which extends all the way down her back). The other’s hesitated before following Vriska out, each of them filling single file out of the Tavern, the door closing quietly behind them. The room was silent once more, the other players who had been sitting at the tables around the room looking towards the Beta Kids. 

“Is… Is what they said true?” One young girl dared to question, breaking the silence like a wrecking ball. Suddenly the tavern roared to life, everyone shouting and asking multiple questions, standing from their chairs and approaching the small group. Dave saw the scared looks on his friend’s faces when other players began to pull weapons. John let go of Rose, each of them backing up with each step the others took towards them. Dave knew he couldn’t let his friends get hurt like this… and Vriska was right, he was a coward when his friends needed him most last time (though he was fighting for his life just as much as the others were in that dungeon, but he guesses he’s a coward for not being able to face death like the others). But this time, this time he would prove he isn’t a coward.

Dave stood up, shrugging Jade’s arms off of him as he stepped forward, each step sending a wave of pain through him. He pushed past John and Rose, each of them looking at him with wide eyes and confusion. Dave stopped right in front of two heavily armed player, who stood him down and looked at him as if he was a piece of dog shit that they stepped in. 

“She was right,” Dave said plainly to the two players, looking at them with a stoic expression, “Vriska was right. My bro, Dirk Strider, created this MMO. I’m not going to lie to you guys. He was friends with Hal, who helped him program the game. I know you’re all really fucking pissed, I know I would be too, but I want to make one thing very, VERY, fucking clear. My Bro never intended on ANYONE being trapped in the game like this. Hell, why would he send his lil’ bro into the game knowing what shit was about to go down? No, my bro may have created this game, but it was Hal who turned it into a death trap! I am not a traitor and I intend to bring Hal to justice just like you all want to!” Dave took a breath, everyone looking at him with uncertain looks. He pointed towards the doors that the Trolls had exited through, looking out and scanning the crowd of players before him. “If you don’t believe when I say I’m not a traitor, and you believe Skeret, then you can go as you wish.”   
Dave brought his arm back down to his side, lowering his face and clenching his fists as he said, “So far I’ve been through hell and back, and I don’t wish what I’ve seen upon any of you. I want to get home as much as you guys do, and we can help get you guys there if you believe in us. So please, don’t give up on us.” 

He looked back up, a lot of the players had since lowered their weapons or put them away all together. Slowly little pods began to exit the tavern, a few heading towards the Beta Trolls’ hideout, and the other’s separate directions. The two players in front of him nodded to one another and sat down at a nearby table. By the time the people who wanted to leave left, the tavern was 1/3 as full as it was previously. Dave nodded towards everyone, locking eyes with each of them once more before turning to the quiet Rose. He hobbled over to a bar stool, sitting down and clutching his bleeding side as he smiled at her.  
“Start cooking some soup and getting some AJ Rose, we have some recruiting to do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget to comment! And if you have links to fanart, leave the link in the comments! Thank you! ^w^


	10. Ready?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One month into the game, a challenge is put forth, and plans are made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI EVERYONE I'M SO SORRY THIS IS LATE 0M0
> 
> There are a few reason's why this is late, the main one being that exams are coming up and all my classes are on crunch time, which sucks because it makes it harder for me to write when I'm stressed from them. The second reason is because I'm a HUGE procrastinator, but I still love writing these chapters and reading your comments, so I won't stop till these fics are over!
> 
> I Hope you all enjoy this chapter!

It has been a full month.

A full FUCKING MONTH of being trapped in this hell hole of a game. 

After the incident with Skeret we had lost many of our followers, some going off to join spider bitch, who got her new nick name due to her newly improved attack where she summons a humongous, venomous spider to do her dirty work (The bitch, that shits for nightmares), or they ventured off on their own, smaller guilds popping up here and there, though none as bit as the two Betas. Rose had recruited about 200 people into the guild, causing the Tavern to expand into the two neighboring buildings, which were now connected to the main building. These offshoots, one with purple stone walls and dark oak trim, the other with gold trim along bright stone walls, each held room for guild members and equipment. The golden trimmed building was named ‘Hearts and Diamonds’ (H.A.D for short), and it contained the treasury, where Rose now kept the fortune that the guild members had been making on missions, along with the rooms and accommodations for the H.A.D members of the guild. The darker, purple stoned building which was opposite to H.A.D was named ‘Clubs and Spades’ (C.A.S), containing the rooms and accommodations for its members and the new armouries and training area, which helped many of the younger players improve their skills before going on missions. The Taverns main area looks the same, though it has grown in size to be able to seat more people, both costumers and guild members.

The leader’s area, which Rose calls her psychology office, is still on the upper level of the Tavern, in the ceiling. The Room with the large oak desk is now much larger, and has many more comfortable seats and book shelves (even though in the basement of the Tavern there is a whole library of fucking books thanks to Rose’s obsession of the lore and myths). The Window overlooking the street has tripled in size, and has stain glass flowers flowing through it. There are now 4 door which connect her office to other rooms designated for only her, John, Jade and Dave. The two rooms furthest away from the stairs leading up to her office (which have become wider and less steep, thank fuck) are their new personal armoury (Right, which had been upgraded with some help from Dirk and ideas from Jake) and kitchen (Left, which John’s sister, Jane, had programmed delicious food into to be easily prepared). The doors closer to the stairs are actually doors which lead down hallways towards the two newly connected buildings. They each get an “overseer’s tower”, where their Rooms overlook the multiple rooms of the other players to make sure no one gets into any fights and so no one gets hurt (they’ve actually stopped quite a few blood bathes with this addition). Going down each hall, the Girls rooms are on the Left, and the boys on the right, Jade and John rooming in H.A.D’s roof and Dave and Rose rooming in C.A.S’s. They each have their own rooms, which is a blessing since most players share their room with at least 1 other player. They each have a large window with a curtain opposite of the door, overlooking the massive area’s which have multiple stories, a social area in the center and rooms along the walls. Dave had often compared such a set up to a prison, which didn’t help with how trapped he or the other players felt. 

Hal had either not picked up on the fact that Dave, John, Rose and Jade had contact with their families, or he just didn’t give a fuck, because for the past month they have been able to talk with their families without a hitch (Roxy credits it to her mad hacking ‘skillz’. How is she and Rose even related??). Shortly after the Tavern upgraded to deal with the new mass of people joining the guild, and after everyone had started to get settled down in their new rooms, Dirk had messaged Dave a few nights after, about 2 weeks or so ago, saying that he was in hiding. The media had not taken Hal’s word that Dirk was innocent (and to be honest, Dave doesn’t think anyone would take Hal’s word now), and now not only was the media attacking him, but the cops, FBI and homeland security have been taking him away countless times to investigate him, tear through their house, and interrogate him, each time getting more violent and more time away from taking care of Dave’s body (the thought makes his stomach turn uneasily). Other countries like Japan, China, Germany and Korea have also been out for his blood, trying to get the United States to hand him over to them to be prosecuted with a bullet, though, thankfully, each time they had turned down to chance to hand him over, instead hopping he could lead them to Hal. But now since nearly everyone in the fucking world is pissed the fuck off at him, Dirk reported to Dave that there had been a ‘few’ attempts on his life, and now instead of interrogating him homeland security is keeping him, and Dave’s body and the equipment used to make the game, in a safe house in an undisclosed location (he wasn’t about to say it because if they can hack into the game, others most likely can as well). Dave had felt his heart drop into his stomach after he was told as much, and when later on when he asked his friends about their families being at risk they had said their families were not being blamed, and were being only considered as people employed by Hal and Dirk for the creation of the video game. 

Dave had been so pissed that his family is getting ripped on, beaten up, and blamed for the death of thousands even though this was not even their doing. Dave had avoided mostly everyone for several days on end, even going out on solo missions even though his still had some injuries from the previous fights which the game would not allow to be healed by his friend’s magic. He had only stopped isolating himself when Rose caught him in her office as he was heading to his room after one grueling mission involving an Orc. She had locked all the doors ahead of time using her master key (one which the other didn’t have), and she locked the door to the stairs to stop Dave from escaping. After minutes of questions with barely any answers from a very reluctant Dave, Rose had abandoned that route and gone to a more physical one. She had hugged Dave tightly, cooing at him and reassuring him that he was not a problem or a nuisance, and as if she could see right through him, she said he was not at fault for the other’s death’s, and that she was happy he was alive. She had slowly broken down his barriers, and he had ended up losing his cool and tell Rose all the shit Dirk had told him. Rose had comforted him, and after a promise not to tell anyone else and to make this a weekly thing, Dave had accompanied Rose to an outing with their friends, one which he was glad to go to, since he got a sweet ass bro-hug from John and high-five from Jade. Rose also now sees multiple people a week to help them with any anxieties they have, or if they’re having a break down, which is why she’s named the leaders area the psychology office.

Dave had begun to go out with the others on missions, mostly with John, who always ended up pranking him one way or another with something stupid (Like a frog in his mug or putting his sleeping bag on a raft and pushing him down a river in nothing but his P.J’s. What an ass). John had also comforted Dave on many occasions as well, hugging him and smiling at him and telling him he’s awesome and that everything will be A-Okay. John had also crossed over into Dave’s rooms on countless occasions, often babbling and crying that he’s lonely or that he misses his dad (who now sends “I’m Proud of you son” messages daily through Jane’s account to show how much John means to him). Dave had always beckoned John over to his bed, where they would have major Bro-cuddles while streaming movies Dirk has sent Dave for these very occasions after the first few times they sat alone in silence. They usually ended up passed out on Dave’s bed, John wrapped up in all the covers while Dave hugged him through them. 

So far neither of the Beta guilds nor any players have attempted to beat the boss on the first floor, not after the shit Hal pulled with the dungeon. It was common knowledge Hal had reset everything, and changed it so that it wouldn’t be easy to beat, and if that dungeon was on the first floor everyone can only imagine what’s on the ones to come. There is unrest stirring amongst the players as they get nowhere and pillage all of the first floors resources. However, a challenge will be put forth with an alluring reward, and Dave won’t be able to resist it…

 

Dave had just gotten back from an excavation trip with Ryan (a young red head, about 2 years younger than Dave) and Kora (an 23 year old who says she’s from Texas like he was), all three of them trying to find some more minerals to use to craft Ryan’s new armour blueprints. They had been unsuccessful, however, and came back with only a few sapphires and soft-stone (used to make runes that go along handles or charms) to show for their efforts. He had trudged back up the stairs to Rose’s office absolutely exhausted. When he opened the door it was to see Rose in a black robe which hung low around her chest and back, the top had no sleeves and had bits of grey and white beads adoring the tops of the shoulders and neckline. A long, flowing bottom accompanied the top, bright purple thread creating designs along the bottom of the robe with an equally as bright belt and bracelets to match. She was talking to Porrim’s sister, Kanaya, who has recently been visiting the Tavern more often than not. She had her short hair which flared out neatly tucked under a silver healer’s hood which hugged her head and gave her a nobler look. The collar of her red shit was high and buttoned up, the shirt stopping just above her belly to show intricate piercings with runes carved into them (most likely from their witch, Feferi, who’s crafting skills are hard to match). Her skirt, which started just under her belly button, was a darker red which faded to silver, and had the same flow-y design as Rose’s Robe. Compared to them Dave was a trash heap. He was wearing simple light brown, baggy pants which were stopped at his knees by his high, red boots. His top was a white undershirt which was now mostly untucked from his pants with a dark red, button up vest. Aaaaaand he was covered in mud from the excavation. 

Both girls slowly quieted their conversation and turned towards Dave, who was looking at them curiously while they returned the same look he was giving them. Even though Kanaya had been mad at Dave for her sister’s death, and even though their guilds were rivals, she had eventually forgiven Dave after seeing it was not his doing, and she soon began returning to the tavern for the occasional drink. However, she soon began staying longer and longer, and after one drunken Rose incident which involved her slipping and ‘falling’ into Kanaya, she has come here every day to talk to Rose (Dave ships it so hard, like fuck they’re adorable). Since Kanaya is also in the Beta Trolls Guild, she informs Rose on any of their conquests or soon to be raids of tombs (she does this not so they can ambush the Trolls, but so they can avoid getting into a conflict with them, and so they always avoid the locations which the Trolls have recently been to and plan on going to). Kanaya had gotten in trouble one time from Skeret once she found out about Kanaya sneaking off to go see Rose, but thanks to her quick thinking she had told spider bitch she was getting close to their leader to learn what they indeed on doing and if they every plan on attacking them. This had pleased Vriska, and now she even encourages Kanaya to go there. Since she now has to report Rose tells her about where they’ve been recently and the bounty they’ve collected so that it is as if she is doing some ‘spying’. 

Kanaya begins to rise from her seated position before Dave’s waving at her, letting her know he’s just passing through. “Don’t worry Maryam, I’m just passing through, you and Lalonde keep up your chit chat and talking about whatever the fuck is going on between out guilds. Nice outfit by the way.” 

Kanaya smiled warmly at Dave as she sat back down and crossed her legs elegantly, “Why Thank You Dave, I Am Flattered. Rose And I Were Just Talking Abou-.” 

Dave cut her off, trying not to sound rude as he said, gesturing to himself, “Sorry Kanaya, I hate to be ditching like this, but I gotta change and take a break, we were working pretty hard down at the site.” 

Kanaya nodded understandingly, obviously taking no offence as she scanned him up and down, grimacing slightly at his mud covered clothing.

“Well David, if you do not mind me asking, what do you have to show for your troubles?” Rose inquired, raising a curious brow. She probably already knows the answer due to how he felt his shoulders involuntarily sag at the question. 

It’s been getting harder and harder to find good resources around in the wild, because to make their lives that much harder it would seem Hal had quadrupled the time it takes for the resources to come back and reset. Originally it took 2 to 3 weeks depending on the materials rarity, but now it’ll probably take 2-3 months for them to come back, and with how everyone’s draining the resources right now, they don’t have the much time. (If your character does not eat the health bar will start to go down, and there have been a few cases already of people starving to death out in the wild where they were setting up makeshift guilds. Far enough away from town so that it’s hidden, but too far away to get emergency supplies if needed.) 

Dave reached into his inventory as he walked up to the girls, tossing the small sapphires and the handful of soft-stone on the desk, all three of them going silent as they stared at the pieces with tight expressions. This wasn’t good, they all knew that, and Kanaya looked like she was trying very hard to not say something. However, after biting her lip and looking uncertainly at Rose, who gave her a quick, clipped nod, she spilled the metaphorical beans.

“They Are Going After The Boss, And Vriska Wishes Me To Inform You, Dave Strider, That, If You Are Not A Young, Crying Toddler, That She Is offering a challenge; That Whoever Lands The Final Blow On The Boss Of This Floor Will Get To Take The Other’s Most Powerful Weapon: Her Spider Medallion, Which Allows Her To Summon A Giant Spider, Or Your Enchanted Sword.”

 

…

 

Dave turned quickly, flash stepping to his room as Rose called after him (After he was healed he worked on his agility again, and was able to bring it back up to how it originally was, maybe even faster). He slammed the door to his room, locking it so that Rose couldn’t barge in as he changed and readied himself for a battle. Dave’s new room was all purple, red tapestries with his red gear symbol splattered across them hanging along his walls, the large double bed with red covers on the left hand side, a large chest on the right, and a full body mirror near the door. He Dove for the chest, rummaging through its inventory for his best armour and sword (the one spider bitch wanted). 

He pulled out his best silky red shirt (now worn and dirty from countless uses since the first time he wore it when he first entered the game), slipping off his vest and white top to put it in their place. He then pulled out his well-kept but worn dark burgundy pants and black, dragon leather, knee high boots, replacing the pants he was currently wearing for his older ones, setting the leather boots aside for later. He continued to pull out pieces of his armour set even as Rose banged on the door for him to come out. He took out his black dragon leather, fingerless gauntlets which ended at his elbows; his deep crimson, hooded cape that flowed behind him when he walked and which had black details stitched into it at the bottom; his black steel shoulder pads, shin guards and thigh pads; his black steel armour chest, which held his red symbol, and abdomen plates, along with the shoulder plates to go with it; a bright red sash which would hand loosely around his hips; and finally his enchanted sword. 

A few weeks ago he added a new enchantment to his rather normal sword. The Enchantment allows the player wielding the object to cast spells using only ¼ of the amount of mana the spell would normally consume, allowing the player to cast more powerful spells or make them last longer with a smaller mana pool. It’s usually reserved for players with a mage or healer classes, since they are the ones who rely heavily on magic attacks. Because of this, John had gotten one after battling and looting an enraged skeleton while exploring a ruin. John had triumphantly showed it off to everyone, Dave giving him a congratulatory fist bump while saying “damn, I could sure use one of those.” Dave soon regretted it as John constantly tried to give it to him, even going as far to fake being upset to go over to Dave’s room in the middle of the night for bro-cuddles and a feels jam (which all good bros offer when one of their friends is upset). And after trapping him in mound of pillows, John would bring up the stupid rune. He eventually caved, allowing John to put it on his sword (Dave had gotten a funny feeling in his chest when John eagerly handed him his sword back with a big ass smile on his face and even bigger, bright blue eyes.) 

Dave pushed the memory out of his head, a small smile still lingering on his lips as he put the rest of his armour on, adjusting it until it felt comfortable. With one last look through his chest to see if he missed anything, he stood, closing the large chest and sheathing his sword. As he walked to the door (which is surprisingly still standing even with Rose’s constant banging) he saw himself in the reflection of his full body mirror. He stopped with his hand on the door handle, turning to face the mirror and look himself up and down. He gave a small smile, remembering the first day in the game, when he meet Egdork, Rose and Jade. He hadn’t really wore this armour since the dungeon incident, even after Kanaya fixed up his shirt and pants while Jade repaired all the metal pieces of his armour set. But today, he was going to put it to good use. 

Rose’s insistent banging had started to grow louder, drawing him out of his thoughts. Actually, now the he was listening closer, it sounded like a lot more people were banging on the door. He turned back to it, carefully unlocking it. Thank god for his fast reflexes, because he only had a second to move out of the way as the door swung open, Jade rushing in with Rose and John at her side (Kanaya nowhere in sight). 

“DON’T YOU DARE BE PLANNING WHAT I THINK YOU’RE PLANNING!!!!” Jade shouted at Dave as she walked towards him, practically fuming. Angry Jade is scary Jade.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, calm down Harley!” Dave said, hands held out in front of him in an attempt to shield himself from her electric green eyes which had a storm brewing behind them. Wrong move.

“YOU WANT ME TO CALM DOWN??? OH I’LL TELL YOU WHO NEEDS TO CALM DO-,” She was cut off abruptly by John’s hand landing over top of her mouth mid-sentence, obviously getting pissed off with Jades yelling (or he could just be pissed off at the whole situation, but it makes Dave feel better thinking it’s not because of him). 

“Jade, please stop yelling, we’re not going to get anywhere if you keep shouting at Dave!” John said, withdrawing his hand slowly from Jade’s mouth, said girl glaring at him, but otherwise silent. 

“Now that we have that under control,” John said, pausing to turn to Dave, who was not expecting it when John grabbed him by the shoulders and started to shake him violently back and forth, “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING DAVE???!!” 

First off, he was thinking about how all this shaking and yelling is giving him a damn good headache. Secondly, he was about 2 seconds away from putting John in a head lock and making him say uncle for shaking him like a salt shaker. Thirdly, Rose, help.

His prayer was answered as Rose sighed exasperatedly, her tone stern as she said, “Johnathan, let go of David or so help me, you will regret it.” 

John had let go of Dave and put a good foot between them. He wasn’t dumb enough not to listen to Rose. She was like a mother, caring for everyone and looking out for their well-being, but she can be stern and scary when needed, like now. 

John and Jade had each shut up after that, Dave sitting down on his bed and holding his pounding head.

“Dave,” Rose said, the boy in question peeking through his hands to look up at her and give her an affirmative nod to continue, “I would like to make it clear to you, if it wasn’t already, that we are all worried about you. We hope you were not planning on going out and accompanying the Beta Trolls on your own. And I, personally, believe you would not be able to be around all of them by yourself.” Dave removed his face from his hands, looking around at his friends. John, who looked very concerned, was in black shorts and blue shoes, his hands wrapped up in brownish tape and he was covered in sweat, Dave determining he had just raced up from training. Jade was in a knee length, strapless black dress that, when light shone on it, reveal green glittering sparkles, making it look like space (she was probably about to go out and buy some supplies). She was not longer fuming, instead her eyes were worriedly looking Dave up and down. Rose was still in her black and purple robe, looking down at him with a slight frown and worry etched into her brow. Dave smiled up at them, not a smirk, one that was warm and happy, trying to show them he appreciates that they care so much for him. 

“What are you dorks talking about?” Dave said with a slight chuckle, earning surprised looks from his friends around him, before he continued, “Of course I’m not about to go with spider bitch all by myself, hell, she’d probably gut me or something.” Dave’s smile changed into a smirk as he stood, crossing his arms at his friends as he stood proudly. “That’s why you guys are coming with me.” 

“We’re what?!” John exclaimed, looking at Dave like he grew a second head, “You expect us to help Vriska after everything she’s said about you and our guild??” 

Dave sighed, his arms falling to his sides as he turned to John. “Dude, I’m not doing this to take up Vriska’s challenge, or even to prove I got bigger balls than that bitch. I want to do this because this is the best chance we got. This is going to benefit everyone, not just us, dude. If we can prove we can pass the first boss, imagine how fast we’ll start progressing through the levels if everyone starts working together? Ok, sure, we’re not technically working together, but not everyone knows that.” Dave put his hand out in front on him, nodding down to it as he said “So, you dudes in on this sweet action or what?”

There was silence, Jade, John and Rose each staring at Dave’s outstretched hand. Dave began to worry, thinking that maybe they’d think he was crazy (and maybe he was), and leave him hanging to do this shit by himself. But then, just as he was about to withdraw his hand, Rose chuckled softly, placing a hand softly over his, stopping his movement as her Violet eyes met his red ones. 

“My David, has anyone ever told you that you have the capacity to be an inspiration speaker?” Rose mused with a smirk, one which Dave was happy to return.

“Aw Rosey, I’m flattered.” Dave teased, earning him an ear pull from Rose, who was using her hand which was not resting a top his.

“Hmmm, what was that David? I didn’t quite hear that, do speak up please.” She cooed, Dave quickly batting away her hand with a glare.

Jade giggled at the two’s antics, drawing their attention away from bickering with each other by placing her own hand on Rose’s. “Geez guys, way to ruin the moment with your bickering!”

Dave pointed to Rose, “She started it!” earning him a flick to the forehead from the accused.

Jade tsked them, holding their hands a little tighter to draw her friends gazes to them, “Anyways, count me in! Wherever you guys go, so will I!”

“Harley, you’re making me tear up here.” Wiping away non-existent tears, Dave smirked at the green eyed girl.

John joined his friends by placing his hand over everyone else, giving Dave a big grin, “And you call ME a Dork.”

“That’s because you are one, ya Dork.”

“Am not!”

“Children please.” Rose chuckled, everyone bursting out into fits of laughter and giggles.

When they finally settled down, Dave looked down at their attached hands, frowning. John must have noticed the slight down turn of his lips, because then he’s asking, “Hey, what’s wrong?” 

Dave frowns further. “This is what’s wrong,” Dave lifts his hand up, lifting everyone else’s with him, “You see this Egbert, this was supposed to be a grade A, fist bump extravaganza, but do you see this? This is one of those corny hand over hand shit you see in one of your stupid action movies.”

Rose and Jade, who started to look upset at the beginning of his little rant, were now laughing at John’s huge pout. “My movies are NOT stupid Dave! You’re Stupid!”

“Yeah, Stupidly gorgeous. Damn Egbert, never pegged ya as a flirt.” 

“DAVE!”

“Hahaha!” Man, he loves that Dork. Platonically, of course, or he’s pretty sure he means platonically. Eh whatever, now’s not the time for any heartwarming revelations Dave.

He sighed, rolling his eyes at said Dork, “Well, since we’re already doing a corny ass movie ‘hip, hip, hooray’ shit, we might as well go through with it and fulfill one of John’s wildest fantasies.”

For that Dave got a punch in the arm from John, who was now scowling at him, but otherwise did not object to the idea. Dave stayed silent for a moment, looking at Rose and Jade, with the first having a small smile on her face while the later had a giddy grin. Dave smirked at the two as they nodded in unison to his silent question, all three of them turning to John, who was pouting and the only one sulking. “Come on dude, don’t look so down. We all know you’re as stoked as we are, so show us that Egbert charm and smile.” 

With a small sigh, and a brief moment of contemplation, John gave a small, buck tooth smile at his friends. Everyone looked into the small circle they had made, gripping the hand under theirs tighter as Dave said, “Ready?”

“One.” Rose.

“Two.” Jade.

“Three.” John.

“GO!” 

And they set off, Dave’s three best friends in all the world went rushing out of his room towards their own, all of them packing and preparing for an unknown enemy. 

Vriska gave him a challenge, and Dave was going to deliver.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Be prepared, cause next chapter's going to be action packed owo


	11. Back in the real world....

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A glimpse into the real world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize so so so so much for not only how long it too me to update this, but also for how short this chapter is. UmU I knew that if I were to go back to the kids right away I probably wouldn't have finished this chapter until much, much later. And don't worry, the next chapter will be a much bigger plot event then "Dirks Day". This chapter has taken so long because of how busy my scheduel has gotten, and I've tired to write as much as possible, but I don't like writing when stressed because I'm worried y work would not be as good as it should, and for this I am sorry. 
> 
> I hope you all enjoy this chapter, even if it is short, and I promise you I will not discontinue my stories until they are complete! ^w^

Dirk had been working none-stop at trying to find a way to get his kid brother out of that stupid, messed up game, and finding that fucker Hal.

Well, he had been trying to between the house raids and kidnapping interrogations by every fucking law enforcement ever every time he so much as fucking moves (and the very sparse, but very fucking scary, assassination attempts, which mainly ended with a slash of a Katana and a loss of a limb on the assailant’s part). Not only that, but a few weeks ago fucking homeland security, after a very fucking brutal interrogation, realized that he was telling the truth (about fucking time), that he had no contact with Hal and knew jack shit of his location, but that didn’t stop the hate crimes and the doubt of other countries, and eventually they decided that Dirk was more valuable alive then dead.

The world was also spun into chaos, as many places were put in marshal law due to the rising amount of violence as people fought to get people to the doctors and fought WITH the doctors when they couldn’t do anything. All of the hospitals were on lockdown, with only a select amount of people with police allowed to visit their family members inside. The Governments around the world are calling this a global crisis. However that hadn’t stopped some sick bastards from profiting from it.

Gameshows and even News stations began to pop up that were solely dedicated to the game, with the game shows hacking into the network of KCO to watch the players fight from first person point of view, mainly when they are in a heated battle, as people bet on whether or not the person would live or die. The news stations were less cruel, however, as they would mainly report the current progress on how officials planned on getting their family members out of the game, as well as reporting recent sightings of Hal or possible conspiracy theories, which mainly consisted of Hal and Aliens. And Dirk was also often at the center of attention, even though he fucking hated it. He would much rather focus on getting everyone out of the game.

And so here he was, just moments after filling his brother in on his current situation thanks to Roxy’s hack. He was stuck in a cramped, underground safe house made of 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a split kitchen/living room, which connected to a larger computer room, in the middle of no man’s land. Upon Roxy’s request (which included her threatening to hack into government systems around the world and flood them with pictures of Cats whistle, and Dirk quotes, “fuckin you pussy jerks over like what you’re doin to poor Dirky!” End quote) they allowed her, Jane and Jake to live with Dirk in the underground establishment, only allowing Roxy, Jane and Jake to leave the place as often as they want so long as it’s reported to the higher ups. Dirk is not allowed to leave, and only is allowed to leave if he is, literally, going insane from being cooped up for so long (they are giving him weekly physiological examinations to make sure he really isn’t, but Dirk thinks if being cooped up won’t make him insane, chasing after Hal will). 

To enter or leave the establishment there’s a large, metal door that looks like it’s out of some sci-fi horror fic that leads to a trail of twisting, winding tunnels which stretch on for miles, each one brining you to a different, small town in the vicinity. After you enter from that door you are in the Living room/kitchen, which consists of a Kitchen to the right, which has a good quality oven, fridge and freezer, as well as dark oak cabinets and counters, which had a blue and white marble top, with the Kitchen dividing itself from the living room with a small island counter which corresponded with the same colours as the kitchen, 4 bar stools with chair backs stood under its slight ledge. The Attached living room had a single couch that held 3 people, a coffee table, one standing lamp and 1 large flat screen TV on the wall (man, even though everyone else wanted him dead, the people who wanted him alive obviously wanted him to be at least a little comfortable). At the far corner on the living room side there was a door that lead to a large computer room, which gave them all the equipment they would need, while around the divide of the kitchen and the living room there was a narrow hallway which lead to the bedrooms and bathrooms. Both bathrooms were across from each other on either side of the hall, the girls washroom was on the right while Jake’s and Dirk’s was on the left. The farthest bedroom at the end of the hall belonged to no one, as it was the room that they kept Dave and the rest of their siblings in (Several doctors who have been trying to find ways of removing people from the helmets come in daily to monitors their vitals and make sure they are well, while also checking in with the other to see if they themselves has made any progress in their research). Dirk and Jake share the closest room to the end of the hall, while Roxy’s room is the third last and Jane’s and the last, closest to the living room/kitchen.

Dirk absolutely hates the fact that because of him, everyone has at least one fucking family member trapped in that messed up game.

“Fuck…” Dirk muttered under his breath at another failed attempt to rewire the helmets neurological analyzer. He has it hooked up to a program he developed that would mimic a human’s brainwaves, that way if he messed up, or if his rewiring causes the helmet to kill its host, he’ll know. Which is to say, it sends a bolt of energy straight into his computer which causes it to crash. “That’s the fifth fucking time today.” He growled out, slamming his hands on the desk as he pushed himself away from it, draping his arm across his eyes in defeat.

“Now come on Love, you can’t be giving up already!” Jake tuned in, walking over to his boyfriend, where he then removed Dirk’s arm from his face with one hand, brushed his bangs away with the other, and gave a soft, sweet kiss to his lips. God, Dirk loved this man. 

“I’m not giving up…” Dirk mumbled against Jake’s soft lips, though his argument wasn’t very strong. Jake merely smiled down at Dirk, his emerald eyes sparkling. 

“Well, if you need any help, let me know, ok love?” Jake said before giving Dirk one final kiss. Dirk nodded, and he watched as Jake left the room, presumably to do some more research on any sightings of Hal. 

This was going to be a pain in the ass to reboot again, Dirk thought as he looked at his fried computer, but he’d do anything for his baby bro.

=======================================

Few weeks later…

 

Dirk groaned as his phone vibrated on the Kitchen Island, hoping that it was something important enough he could use it to get out of eating the food Jake just cooked. 

“Come on now, Strider! Just eat some damn rice for gosh sakes! It’s not THAT bad!” Jake protested, trying to feed a tight lipped Dirk some of the fried rice he just cooked.

“No fucking way am I eating that Babe.” Dirk protested while covering his mouth, “It’s like fucking soya sauce soup with over cooked rice!”

“Oh hog wash Dirk! It was all we had until the girls get back from their grocery shopping trip, so I tried my damned hardest to make something, so it would be nice if you’d just eat it!” Jake said, a sad pout evident on his face, his big green puppy dog eyes shooting a hole through Dirk’s heart.

Fuck, he was going to regret this.

“Fine, Fine! Just stop looking so sad.” Dirk said, kissing the now triumphant Jake as he took the bowl of drenched rice, placing a spoonful in his mouth, where he nearly choked from the overwhelming taste of soya sauce. 

“How does it taste?” Jake said with a smirk, obviously trying not to laugh from the face Dirk was making after his coughing fit.

“It taste like ass.” Dirk said, shoving a spoonful into Jake’s mouth when he began to laugh, effectively shutting him up as his face contorted into disgust.

“Holy Christopher cucumber that is absolutely awful!” Jake shouted, running over to the sink in the kitchen to spit out the remaining food in his mouth, Dirk just rolling his eyes and setting the “food” on the kitchen island before picking up his phone. 6 missed messages from Dave…

 

\------ TurntechGodhead began pestering TimaeusTestified at 9:44------

 

TG: Bro, I need to tell you something really damn important

TG: Bro are you even there?

TG: Dude answers you damn texts already

TG: Dirk Elizabeth Strider answer me right this moment or so fucking help me I swear to god I will unleash hell on your ass

TG: DIIIIIIIIIIIIRK

TG: Ugggh, fuck fine, don’t answer me. No wonder you can’t get laid you never text anyone back

TT: Um, Excuse you but I do get laid by one hot piece of English ass, so stfu

TT: Secondly, I do answer back but I was just eating something which tastes like ass made by English.

TT: So sup?

TG: I don’t even want to know

TG: Knowing English’s cooking skills I’d say it was oatmeal with pepper and mustard in it with a side of orange juice

TT: He tried to make rice, but he over cooked the rice and added too much soya sauce, so no it wasn’t as bad as that one time he made the oatmeal when he first moved here from his island.

TG: Damn

TG: Anyways, enough of English and his horrible rice cooking skills

TG: I came to tell you that we’re going after the boss

 

Wait, what?!

 

TT: Hold the fuck up right now little man

TT: You’re going after the boss for level 1?

TT: Are you fucking crazy? Hal isn’t stupid and if anything that boss is going to be hell to beat.

TG: I know, I know, Dave you’re a stupid motherfucker, yeah yeah

TG: I didn’t come to you for your nanny speech bro

TG: I came here to ask you if you and Roxy could hack Hal’s network again and see what you could find about the monster’s weaknesses, or just see if you could get a fucking picture of the thing

TT: Hmm, I think I can do that, but why are you suddenly so interested in getting your ass whooped?

TG: Because the resources here are running low, first off, and secondly, some bitch who stole half of our fucking guild challenged me to fight that monster with her, the last one to kick it’s ass wins the other’s most powerful weapon.

TT: So you’re going after a monster because some girl called you a pussy and bet you your sword?

TG: Yep, pretty much.

TT: I knew I raised you well

TT: Anyways, I’ll see what I can do. 

 

Dirk looked over at Jake, who was pouting in the corner of the room, still upset over his mess up in the kitchen.

“Hey babe,” Dirk called, drawing the Green eyed beauty to look at him, “We got some work to do.”

 

Roxy huffed as she leaned back in her wheelie chair, peering at her bright screen with a furrowed brow. Dirk and Jake sat on the couch opposite of her, their own laptops seated in their laps as they typed furiously (Or more so Dirk typed quickly and Jake was just recording the information Dirk was gathering, as Jake didn’t know how to hack anything too well and didn’t want to fuck up). Jane brought over some ice-cream floats she made for them, hoping to lighten the mood. She handed Dirk his Vanilla ice cream-orange Crush float, Jake his Vanilla ice cream-Canadian Dry Ginger Ale Float, Roxy her Cotton candy ice cream-Pink Crush float, before she sat down next to Jake and sipped on her own Rootbeer-Birthday Cake ice cream Float. 

“So, here’s what I go about the big boss my sis and your siblings are going to fight…” Roxy trailed off, clicking a few times using her mouse while sipping her drink before continuing. “It some big ass Cyclopes with two heads, an eye on each…,” Roxy looked puzzled for a moment, “wait, shit, is it a Cyclopes if it has 2 heads and an eye on both?? Ya know what whatever it’s a two headed Cyclopes. Ok, so they’re going to fight a fucking two headed Cyclopes, ok? From what I could tell it has thick scales and a blood red right eye and blue left. It has a fucking huge club and wears chain mail around it’s hips like a skirt. That’s all I got. Whatcha got Dirky? Also thanks for the delicious snake Janey.” Jane smiled at Roxy, mumbling out a “you’re welcome” to Roxy between sips of her ice cream float. 

Dirk brows were furrowed as he scanned over his findings, Jake speaking for him. “From what Dirk could find, the blasted creature attacks using laser beams from each eye, one of fire and one of ice! And it has a smash attack where it waves its club around randomly, however other than that its attacks are all whipped from the Data base!” Jake pouted, crossing his arms while sipping his float, mumbling about the bloody shitcake Cyclops and his illusive powers. Dirk rolled his eyes at his boyfriend. 

“While his other attacks may be wiped from the Data base, I do know that he was pretty fucking easy to beat before since he was the first boss, however the likelihood that Hal messed around with its attacks and power stats is pretty fucking high. I don’t know how fucking long he had been planning this whole thing, but I’m pretty damn sure he didn’t have time to render many new attacks for it.” Dirk smirked, as he knew Hal’s tactics better than anyone, and even though it wasn’t helping them find him, it sure as hell would help their siblings. “I bet all that bastard did was increase the size of the fucker and the damage his attacks deal, save him some time. This things the first boss anyways, least important. If anything the further they move up in the levels the more likely they’ll see any actually large changes in the bosses. But even though it’s only a few changes, those kids better be hella careful, because I’m sure it’s going to be a hectic fight.” Dirk sipped his float in consideration after he was done relaying this information.

Roxy wheeled over and patted Dirk on the back, so hard that he nearly spat out his float onto his expensive computer. “Good going Dirky!! I knew ya could think of something like that! Now all we need to do is warn Rosey and the others!” Roxy began to type furiously on her key board, no doubt sending messages to her sister at a lightening pace. Dirk sighed, leaning back into the couch as Jake wrapped his arm around his shoulders, pulling him into his side and nuzzling into Dirk’s soft, blonde hair. Dirk smiled, but his heart was still constricting in his chest as he hugged Jake back, shoving his face against his chest.

Dirk breathed, because now all they could do was wait, and pray to whatever gods were out there that Dave and the other’s would survive.

**Author's Note:**

> Don't forget to comment!


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